The Observers: The Black Wind
by GreatFarki
Summary: Chapter 14 is up! Questions, answers, and mystery!
1. Chapter 1

Well for those of you who had read my first attempt at this story, I am sorry. I'm not sure what the heck I was thinking when I first released it but from now on I am taking my sweet time like I did with this chapter. If you had read my previous attempt, forget everything about it and try to read this without a predisposition. Again this takes place after Chrono Trigger and it ignores the Chrono Cross Story line though it does have the Chronopolis. That is because I happen to like that name so I used it for the name of the time station. I don't own anything Square / Enix Related yada yada yada. You've probably heard this a million times but reviews are appreciated. I've read through this more times than I'd care to so any mistakes that are left I'd love to hear about them. On with the show.

-----/

Chapter 1: Familiar Faces, Different Places

In the sea of darkness, standing apart from the rest of time, exists the Chronopolis, a large complex that resembles a giant start fish. Its' girth encompasses large cities, its' height dwarves tall mountains. But there are no cities or mountains at the End of Time to compare it too, and instead most of those living inside just know it is very, very large, and leave it at that. The outside consists of thin solid sheets of titanium, supported by a large steel skeletal structure, with no noticeable windows or openings. In the middle, where all the legs of the building connect, is a giant bio-dome on the scale of which the world has never seen.

Inside the dome, beneath its' hard metallic skin, lies earth duplicated on a much smaller scale. The whole area is 60 miles in diameter and reaches 4 miles at its' highest while the edges of the dome are only 20 stories high. Huge mountains dominate the center, tapering out to jungles and plains and deserts, while the north and south ends of the dome are icy wastelands. Seasons play out much like on Earth, winter causing much of the environs to become cold and chilly while summer produces a sweltering heat, all while the artificial sun, stars, and moon simulate, almost perfectly, a day and night cycle. This main hub connects to the five legs via large moving walkways and serves as a recreation area for those residing within.

Each leg supports a different aspect of the Chronopolis; Operations department, living quarters, the time archives, recruit training, and the power-plants. Day to day operations in the Chronopolis consists of providing new data to the time archive, a database stretching from the beginning of the world to current day, where the new data is compared to the days' previous for any deviations. If one is found it's the Observers job to correct the deviation and repair the time line. A lofty goal to be sure, for who could really watch all of time, but the facility is staffed with enough Observers and dedicated scientists to fulfill its' purpose. Since ferrying its' employees back and forth through time whenever they go and come from work would tax the flow of time, it's necessary to have them stay aboard instead.

Without a place to sleep and eat the station would not be able to function at the cease-less pace it did. Each staff receives a room to themselves, unless two volunteer to share a room for a salary increase, which are furnished with the basics of furniture, a small kitchenette, a restroom, and a bed. Meanwhile when a break was needed from the daily grind, the bio-dome could offer almost limitless possibilities of "outdoor" activities, and if that didn't suit your tastes there are stores, internet café's, and a variety of other shops lining the inner rim of the dome. Food and drink were free, as were a variety of activities, but the merchandise was not. While no one would brag about their salary, certainly not to any civilian back on earth, neither did they complain about a lack of money or things to spend that money on, except for maybe the trainee's.

Before becoming Observers, candidates were required to spend 10 years being trained in everything an Observer would need to know to complete his or her job. The minimum age is 6 and there is no maximum age, though a thorough scan of the older applicants are conducted to ensure that they will, theoretically, live at least another twenty years. During this time the students are introduced to Magic, martial combat, the physics involved in time traveling, cause-and-effect scenarios, and a thorough study into the world's history. Such a class of gifted students is currently on the final leg of their journey to becoming full-fledge Observers.

------/

Spekkio, the self proclaimed master of war, looked at the assembled group of students, twenty six in total. This was their last day under his tutelage, today being the final exam, and he was eager to see their skills put to the test against one another. There was never a better test of skill than to pit two evenly matched opponents against each-other, or so Spekkio thought. His grubby little hands attached to his ungainly long arms, belonging to a small white round body, rubbed together in anticipation and he hopped back and forth on his stubby legs and feet. Thought his form changed automatically to reflect the strength of those he faced in battle, he could also change his shape at will and often liked to assume his current form, the weakest, to poke fun at the student's lack of progress.

Normally students would be dressed in Chronopolis' uniform, consisting of grey slacks and black shirt for the boys, and long grey skirts and cream colored shirts for the girls. Each uniform had a small yellow 'C', over the right breast, with two clock hands springing from the middle of the 'C' and pointing straight up. For his class though they were allowed to change into any type of clothing they wanted, the smart ones chose clothes that complimented their fighting style while those less intelligent just dressed in cool looking yet obtrusive outfits. He allowed them this privilege to observe just that.

Spekkio whirled around, laughing quietly to himself before he reassumed his serious posture and spun back to face his assembled students. Here stood the future Observers of the Chronopolis, men and woman charged with maintaining the time stream, and Spekkio beamed with pride as he looked over those assembled. Not since prior to the Fall of Zeal had he trained so many in the use of magic, though it wasn't for everyone. A few in this group lacked the gift and so he taught those unique individuals how to most effectively deal with anyone that relied too much upon magic. These he named his Mage Hunters.

"Well you all look ready to get this over with and get back to that cheerful teacher of yours" laughed Spekkio, referring to Janus, the group's teacher, who taught them everything except fighting. The students laughed in response, after all no one else would have the guts to call Janus anything except teacher. "Until then though, lets have some fun before old crabby pants gets back. First I want you to separate into two equal groups, and before you ask, I don't care how you figure out who goes where just make em into two lines" Spekkio waited as the students shuffled about until two orderly lines, parallel to one another, emerged from the chaos.

"Ok now look across to the opposite line, the person directly across from you is your opponent" Spekkio announced. He could see them sizing one another up, trying to predict what sort of battle to expect and preparing a list of counters. When he was sure that they at least had the time to think briefly about, but not dwell upon, the upcoming battle he gave a shrill whistle to get their attention once again.

"LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!"

----/

Lana Asimari quickly glanced at her opponent, he had short red hair, cut in a military fashion, and brown eyes. Apparently he noticed the quick once-over Lana had given him because he gave her a mischievous wink and a grin. Seemed he thought this was going to be an easy battle, here his opponent was standing at only 5 foot with a compact and lithe body and the inability to use magic. Meanwhile he stood at an impressive 6 foot something, his tank top displaying well-toned arms with a flaming serpent tattooes running down both, and a record among the class as being the top fire user. His name was Jake, if she could recall correctly.

Past the cursory glance Lana delved deeper, looking past the person's physical self, to the spiritual aura that each person possessed. It was bright red, confirming he was in fact more fire attuned that any other element, and it spiked up and down frantically, betraying his unease and eagerness which he kept hidden on his physical surface. 'Good, at least I'm not the only one with butterflies in my stomach', Lana thought as she quickly glanced at the aura's belonging to the rest of her class mates. The only calm aura around was Spekkio, but even his had ripples across the surface, signaling that while he was calm on the inside he was still anxiously awaiting something.

While Lana was a Mage Hunter, the few and far between that lacked the ability to use magic, she had the unique ability to look past the physical world and tune herself to the spiritual one. It was still highly un-documented, only a few unproven theories and books written about it, and most thought that all she could do was read aura's and perhaps see ghosts or other spiritual beings. A fact known only to her was that she could also talk to the spirits of the elements and those of inanimate life whose element fell outside the magical spectrum.

The first group stepped into the battle arena, a box twenty feet wide and twenty feet across that was outlined by a dark red line on the floor, and readied whatever weapons they had decided to bring with them into the duel. The student from Lana's line was a large wide shoulder lightning user, dressed with only thick blue pants, while his opponent was a short and skinny ice user, dressed in a skin tight black Kevlar outfit, with two short swords. The two bowed to each other, waited for Spekkio to give the go signal, and the battle began in earnest.

For these battles, students were free to choose whatever weapon they like, though no fire-arms with the exception of crossbows and bows, and there was even the option to not carry weapons at all if the student trusted in their magic that much. When dueling with the weapons there was no real risk of injury. Each weapon was enchanted to cause the body to behave as if it had been cut but without actually causing any physical damage to organs and what not. Magic was also muted somewhat by a field effect cast by Spekkio, but there were cases when the field had failed to dilute the spell sufficently, leaving some students with battle scars or worse.

The fight ended quickly, the lightning user getting an unexpectedly fast jab at the ice user and felling him in one blow. Several other battles took place, most taking a great deal longer than the quick first match, with Spekkio speaking to the pair of dueler's after each fight was concluded to point out weaknesses and strengths. Soon enough it was Lana's turn to try her luck, and her skill, against what she knew would be a challenging opponent.

While he was dressed in a black tank top with long black pants, flames painted on that reached up from the bottom, he carried no weapon except a pair of iron knuckles. Lana sported a tight form fitting tank top that hugged her modest curves and loose knee-length black shorts, a rope along the cuff of the legs tied the shorts off just above the knee to provide maximum mobility. Some of her weapons were stored in a small sack, containing throwing stars and a metal weight at the end of a length of silk rope, with a katana strapped diagonally across her back and a wakizashi attached horizontally to her belt and located on her backside as well. The choice of weapons was meant to counter the variety of spells that her opponent might be able to throw her way while still keeping her unencumbered and a small target.

The two reached the center of the dueling square, bowing first to Spekkio then to each other. "Began!" shouted Spekkio, signaling the beginning of the duel. Lana attacked first, quickly flicking a shuriken out of the pack at her waste towards Jake, who sidestepped to the left to avoid the small and sharp projectile. The distraction gave Lana the few seconds head-start she would need as Jake had recovered from the feint and was already gathering energy for a spell. As she ran, she quickly hurled two more shuriken, throwing them both in the same motion, intending to herd him further to the edge of the square. Instead he stayed his position, only one shuriken imbedding itself into his chest, and released a blast of fire at Lana as she charged him head on.

Lana rolled under the scorching blast, so close to the heat that a few strands of her light purple hair became singed, and was up and running immediately after recovering from her roll. Almost instantly she had to roll again, this time to the right, to avoid another blast of fire aimed at her. It seemed that Jake was just using the fire blasts to buy time, aiming only roughly in her direction just enough so she'd have to dodge to avoid damage, all the while it was just intended to wear her down.

Rolling again to dodge several more blast, Lana came up from the roll and launched the metal weight at Jake's upper mass. He took the bait, attempting to block with his right arm, and Lana adjusted its' path mid flight with a flick along the silk rope. Instead of knocking him upside the head, like Jake had expected, Lana yanked back on the rope once it flew over Jake's blocking arm, wrapping the rope around the defending arm. She quickly took the rope in both hands, pulling with all her strength, while Jake pulled back. His well muscled arms were more than a match for Lana's strength and he was instead pulling her.

Instead of continuing the tug-of-war Jake simply used the rope as a path to get to Lana, sending a large column of fire down the thin thread. Rather than throwing the line down, like a reasonable person, she ran full tilt into the column, an awful burning pain racked her body almost bringing her to her knees. Jake obviously thought the fight was over because he put up no defense as she jumped from the raging inferno to deliver a clean decapitation and chest wound with her Wakizashi and Katana. Her landing was un-graceful, and Lana rolled across the floor like a thrown rag doll.

She saw Jake collapse from his sudden "decapitation" but it was a hollow victory at the moment as her body felt like it was still on fire. In the background she could hear the cheers of the on-lookers as the fight concluded and Spekkio yelling for someone to send for a healer, but it seemed so far away and merited no attention from her. The last thought to race through her mind before blacking out was, 'Gotcha Ya'.

--------/

"You what!" practically yelled a very angry Janus Zeal as he stared down at the much smaller rotund Spekkio. When Janus had come to pick his class up from Spekkio, the assumed competent instructor, he had been told that one of his students had been severely damaged, even with the magic muter in place. This had not made Janus happy, not one bit. It wasn't as if he cared whether one of his brats, his name for the students, sustained an injury or not, but he didn't need someone falling behind because Spekkio couldn't, as Janus put it "Levitate his way out of a bucket".

Janus, wearing his usual look that was somewhere between annoyed and angry, looked quite perturbed at Spekkio. While his glower was still menacing, it failed to achieve the same death glare that he had been famous for when adventuring with Crono and company, due in part to the many illusions cast around his being to hide his more prominent feature. It didn't stop him from trying though. His pale skin was enchanted for a more earthly, brown look, his purple hair was turned black, and his large ears and fangs were shrunk down to normal human standards. The old dark wizard garb, cape and leather chest-piece, had been traded in for a Chronopolis instructors robe, grey with black edging, and he now usually carried around a laptop instead of a scythe. Still Spekkio could see Janus' old likeness once in a while, especially at times like these when he was furious.

"Don't worry, things like this happen sometimes. She's a tough kid and there shouldn't be anything permanent, just a few days in bed under healing magic and she'll be fine" Spekkio reassured Janus, or tried to, as they both stood next to the floating medical bed in Sick Bay where Lana was being kept for the time being. She was currently wrapped head to toe, much like a mummy, in bandages with a healing salve applied underneath. Fortunately she was still asleep and in no pain.

"These things wouldn't happen _sometimes_ if you knew how to set up a proper spell muter!" argued Janus back at Spekkio, pacing back and forth like an animal pouncing in for the kill. "This is what happens when you stick your 'Mage Hunters' against real mages"

"She did technically still win" argued Spekkio, reminding Janus that Jake had been the first one to black out.

"Does this look like winning to you?" asked Janus, pointing to Lana's prone form "Jake left without a scratch on him while your precious hunter has second degree burns all over her body!"

"You've got a point" conceded Spekkio almost embarrassingly as he turned away.

"Whatever" sighed Janus "I Just need her ready before we take them to the field, I can't afford to have any of my students miss that"

"You mean you can't afford to have any more screw ups on your record" commented Spekkio, aloud rather than to himself as he had meant to do. Janus simply scowled back at him, the glare of death back in full force, and looked away promptly.

"I need her ready by then" demanded Janus quite forcefully "You better pray she is" Then he was gone leaving Spekkio in the white and red colored room, currently smelling too much of disinfectant, and the rest of the sick and injured of the Chronopolis. Spekkio chuckled softly to himself and looked proudly to Lana. Whether Janus agreed with him or or not, she was the winner in his book.

"Next time though kid, try something besides jumping into the large column of fire eh?" Spekkio asked Lana, a small inconspicuous smile creeping onto her face. Spekkio didn't see it, after all she was covered in bandages, and so he left as well, going back to training the next class for the day.

-----/

Fire raged all around her, the walls, floor and roof were all alit like giant candles, as she crawled fearfully under the dark veil of smoke floating around the room. She didn't know what happened, why their house was on fire, what to do during a fire, or even exactly why things caught on fire. All she knew was that the heat burned her body, and the smoke irritated her lungs and eyes so she stayed low to the ground. Still it caused her to stumble and fall, lost and alone, as the fire hungrily burned around her.

During the day the house was easily navigated, but now she wasn't even sure what room she was in, the smoke and fire covering any recognizable markers. She crawled even faster on her small limbs, climbing over wooden remains still partially on fire, and at last bumped into something that was soft and fleshy. The two bodies belonged to her parent's, even at her young age she was certain they were both dead, and more tears welded up in her already teary eyes.

Her mother and father had been her world, like most small children's parents were, and the strength she had been running on before vanished. The fire still ragged about her, but she no longer cared, it had taken away all it could and she was ready to just give up. The smoke filled the whole room now, there was no safe heaven no matter how low you were, and her eyes became heavy as her lungs heaved and coughed. At last consciousness thankfully left her, leaving dreams of better places in its wake.

---/

Awakening from the violent dream, Lana tried to move, to get out of the burning house. Only before remembering that she was safe and sound at the Chronopolis and recovering from her wounds in Sick Bay. Still, the faint smell of smoke still lingered in her nostrils and her body felt hot and burnt. It was due to the massive burns, she told herself, reasonable words pushing the dream, and the fear with it, to the back of her mind. The fire was a thing of the past, it couldn't hurt her anymore.

Lana heard the sliding doors open and made out the soft sound of someone walking on padded feat. Turning her head and allowing her senses to slip into the ethereal spiritual world, she made out the calm blue aura of one of the nurses that worked here.

"Water…" begged Lana through her parched throat, surprised at the rough sound in her voice.

"Now, now, quite child" chided the nurse, her tone was jovial and her voice sounded elderly but still sweet. "You've had quite an injury, I'll get you some water but you have to promise to let me give it to you slowly. Too much water at once isn't good for you right now"

Lana watched the nurse walk over to her bedside, hearing the "thunk" of a glass being placed down, Lana guessing she had had it with her from the start. Then the nurse carefully removed a few bandages from around her mouth. It hurt, even with pain relievers she hoped they had given her, but feeling the air on even a small portion of her skin felt good. "Well, its looking better than it was but you still have a few days left here" evaluated the old women "Let me just cast another rejuvenation spell, it looks like the last one has worn out".

With just a few words Lana felt cool relief spread through her body and sensed new repairs being made to her skin at a slow rate. Still it was better than waiting for it to naturally heal. "Thank you nurse" said Lana, the words hurting her haggard wind pipes. "Your quite welcome young lady, and you may call me Eva. Nurse is so formal". "Thank you Eva" Lana repeated, the pain lesser but still great.

"Hush now" Eva spoke softly "I'm going to slowly give you some water, then we'll change those wrappings of yours and get you some new ones". As she promised Lana was allowed small sips of water, too small for her liking, but it was cool, not cold, and soothed her sore throat. After the glass was done, Eva taking five minutes to empty it, Lana decided she needed to know what was going on.

"Did I win?" asked Lana "The fight that is, our final exam was today". Eva removed the bandages from Lana's head first, and slowly, before answering the question. The veil pulled from her eyes, Lana saw an aged woman, covered in wrinkles, wearing the white Nurse robes, all white except for the red cross in the middle, and an equally white bun of frail hair atop her head. Her smile, and the light behind her two blue eyes, were that of a motherly nature as she responded "I'm not sure myself dear, but I had your two teachers in here arguing earlier, the sour puss and the white fur-ball, and it seemed that they had differing opinions. Both agreed that the boy, Jake was his name, was the first to lose consciousness".

The news put a smile on Lana's face, which put a frown on Eva's. "Don't take this the wrong way child, but was winning worth the burns. It was only a test, lose or win you could still pass. Now look at you, you look like a mummy". Eva continued to slowly peel off the wrappings and Lana cringed and tensed in response to the pain. After the original layer had been removed, Eva allowed the skin to get some air and let Lana rest for a minute or two.

"Yes, the pain was worth winning" agreed Lana as she enjoyed the cool feeling of the air against her skin. Something seemed wrong though and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Almost as if something that was normally there, had vanished.

Eva sighed and began to brush Lana's old skin off, the parts that had already been replaced anyway, taking care not to pop the still lingering blistering. "It's just such a shame that it took your beautiful hair in the process" At that comment, Lana's face blanched and a look of total shock replaced the contented smile.

"Such a shame, hair takes so long to grow back too"

----/

Days passed for Janus as they normally did, to slow for his liking but at the same time too fast. It had been 2 days since he had left Lana in Sick Bay's care and just now he was being told that she wouldn't be ready for another two. Something along the lines of slowly working the body back to full hydration or some such none-sense. Thinking about it just put another scowl on his face as he looked at the one empty computer console, its' hollowness sticking out like a sore thumb. Instead he decided to look at the rest of his students, though it didn't do much to improve his mood, and he rose from his seat as if it were an onerous task.

Today was the start of his long break, a six month break, as the students went to various active Observers to study under them. It was the one and only reason he was glad he wasn't active any more, though he would give anything to have his gate key re-instated. No, he decided, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Taking his anger and manifesting it in his gaze, he swept his eyes across the room to each student before speaking.

"Today you will all be assigned an active Observer to study under for the next six months" he announced with his usual dread-inducing tone "Giving me six months of peace and quiet. Don't think I'll be happy when you return so expect the worst. The Observer you are working under has been mailed to you and further instruction are there as well. I don't expect there to be any questions"

In spite of this last announcement, or out of spite, a hand was raised none the less, belonging to none-other-than Jake. Janus had observed Jake's behavior the past two days, he seemed to carry a burden around at the news of hearing he injured Lana, and the ex-Observer already knew what his latest inquiry was for. "I didn't expect further questions, but It seems that doesn't matter" acidly said Janus, looking directly at Jake "Yes, Mr. Owens?"

"Sir, will Lana be well in time to be assigned an Observer?" Jake tried to sound unconcerned, as if it were a topic of casual conversation, but he failed miserably. "Mr. Owens, Ms. Asimari's condition is neither your concern, nor mine. Her well-being is for Sick Bay to worry about" Janus said as he turned his back to the class and began writing on the digi-board "But she will be bed ridden for two more days, hopefully that will keep you from inquiring further". Janus finished his work on the digi-board, turning back around and stepping to the side for the class to see.

"On a similar topic, and thank you for the reminder Mr. Owens, we are going to review the basics of creating a "Spell Muter" before you go. As demonstrated by his failure, I do not quite trust that Spekkio taught you competently" Janus, without further prodding from his class, launched into his matter-of-fact mode, the tone of voice used when imparting precise and detailed information. The class didn't moan at his announcement, they made scarcely a sound except to ready a text file for notes, the last time they had expressed displeasure about a topic Janus had simply refused to teach it. Least to say that test scores for that particular week weren't good.

The day wore on, as it had for the past two that had preceded it, and at last Janus' read the last of the facts. Class was dismissed, Janus was still annoyed and angry, and Jake had inquired about Lana once again. All in all, the day for Janus was a bad one, and when days went bad the bottles went up.

He wasn't a heavy drinker, in fact before he worked at the Chronopolis he hadn't had alcohol before, and still considered drinking to be for the weak minded. Still though, he had to admit that the weak minded had a good idea or two once in awhile. Where did an angry time teacher go when he need a good drink? Why, "The Bar at the End of Time" of course.

Everyone thought that before the Chronopolis existed at the "End of Time" that there had been nothing here before it. Of course that was un-true, Gasper having first claim and Spekkio having second, but no one else knew that. So it wasn't a surprise that when Janus first arrived here, confused and intrigued, Gasper was already setting up shop. He had told Janus that it was his dream to run a bar, a new revelation to the warlock, and so he had set up shop in the Chronopolis. Being as how he had been here first, there hadn't been much anyone could have said to stop him. Now one of the three great Gurus from Zeal, a mind that had devised what would still be considered marvels today, was running a seedy bar stuck between a pizza place and a bowling alley.

Of course that just furthered the illusion, thought Janus, of keeping everyone thinking they are anywhere but here. Spells and projections were set up in the hallway to make them resemble a tree lined neighborhood with brick and mortar houses. The Bio-dome gave residents a place like home, the shops and stores that lined the rim furthering the effect. Even the windows, windows with metal plates behind the glass, were enchanted, by technology or magic, to look out over a nameless city like you lived there. No, Janus decided, no-one really wanted to be here, not even Gasper.

Making record time, as usual, by taking the moving walkways that wound through the Chronopolis, Janus arrived at his destination in minutes rather than the hour walk it would have been. The sign was simple and black with white letterings, "The Bar at the End of Time", that told anyone passing, or pausing to stare, that it was indeed a bar and they were indeed at the end of time. Few people came here due to its' small size, the low amount of technological comforts, and the creepy Deja-vu that one experienced when here.

Gasper looked up from the bar he was tending as the bell rang to announce the arrival of another customer, a surprise visitor today. Janus took his usual seat at the bar, the same seat he took since the first day he imposed his presence in the bar, and it would be the same one he would take till he stopped coming. Just like the seat, Gasper knew the drinks he ordered and before Janus could voice Gasper's thoughts, the drinks and shot glasses were set before him. "You need a new hobby old man" commented Janus at the fast and in-advance service. Taking a look around confirmed that indeed the same regulars that came here every day, and did the same thing every day, already occupied their predestined tables and chairs. Cheap cigar smoke drifted lazily in the air, carrying with it a variety of bar-only smells, and the talk of work, love, and life in general drifted about the room almost as lazily. It was another reason Janus favored this bar, it was relaxed and casual, he could be an ass, people would be an ass back, and both would just let the other slip. "So how's she doing?" asked Gasper, waiting till Janus slammed down his first shot from his bottle of _Languid Dreams_.

Gasper looked much the same as he had when they'd first come to the End of Time. The big bolder hat cupped most of his head and the only hair one could see was the large grey bushy mustache that sat under his equally large nose. Gasper did trade in his tan robe for black dress trousers, suspenders, and a white dress shirt, but over everything he wore a bar-tenders smock. When business was slow he would lean back and sleep, as they'd always found him under the lamp post, snoring and making that strange bubble he always did.

"I find it hard to swallow that a bar-tender knows what befalls my students without me telling him" growled Janus, not quite sure why he was angry but that he was. "Spekkio was here two days ago, and told me what happened. He really seemed to feel bad about it, well as bad as Spekkio can feel anyways" explained Gasper as he turned around momentarily to serve another customer a drink.

"You two didn't see enough of each other being stuck here the first time?" Janus expressed sarcastically "Well if you see if, tell him that he is going to cost her to miss the field training". Janus looked befallen at that, and took another shot, before continuing the conversation. "And there goes my chance at getting re-instated".

Gasper, like every good bartender, had served as an outlet for Janus' sorrow whenever he became angry enough to come here and order a drink. The topic of conversation that was slowly being steered towards was not one Gasper relished hearing, in fact he did his damnedest to steer it in the opposite direction. "I'm sure they'll overlook that, I wouldn't worry too much. Things will work out" Gasper assured Janus, though he was pretty sure he was talking to a brick wall about now. "Nothing ever, _works out_, unless you force it too" solemnly spoke Janus, not angry or annoyed, but just tired. Another shot was gulped down.

"Janus don't" Gasper commanded in a friendly manner but one that said he didn't approve of where this was going.

"Oh come on, you know why they won't re-instate me. It is because of her, they know I'll just go after her again" Janus spoke freely but quietly "I would too, I owe her that much".

"Janus you've got to stop beating yourself up about that, that happened tens of thousands of years ago" said Gasper, at the point where he was about to take the bottle from Janus to stop the self-pity party.

"Not to me it didn't, It feels like yesterday" another shot went down "You were there, you should have, could have, stopped it". Another road down memory lane was explored. Janus remember that day well, could still see the laughter on his mother's face as Lavos struck them all down, it never faded, and he could still she the pain etched on Schala face at finally realizing the truth. That their mother was no more, and what was in front of them was just an empty shell. It was too late though, too late for her or anyone else.

"We did all we could, it isn't anyone's fault" Argued Gasper "Things sometimes just happen"

"Things seem to _just happen_ a lot, don't they?" Janus paused as he was lost in his own thoughts again "Everyone just stood by, and Schala would be alive if they hadn't"

"STOP IT!" shouted Gasper, banging his hands on the table, and drawing a few quick glances from the other patrons. Janus fell silent, due to the outburst or just lost in his own thoughts again Gasper didn't know, and another shot was quickly downed before the bottle was taken away.

"You going to tell her?" asked Gasper after several minutes of silence on both their parts. Janus took his time in answering, fighting his personal battles, and nodded. "I'm going to see her tomorrow morning. I'll let her know then"

"Good, you may not like your students Janus but you need to be the teacher for them that you never had" Gasper encouraged his friend in the only way he knew would reach him, through his past. Janus was too far into his memories at the moment and missed the meaning behind Gaspar words, taking them only for another insulted hurled at him by the ancient bartender.

"Whatever" mumbled Janus as he slipped from his seat, angry and sullen, and left the bar. Gaspar may have taken the bottle away from him but there were fridges in the dormitories for a reason, and it wasn't to keep the leftovers cold.

--/

The door to the entrance of sick bay slid open, making the accommodating whoosh sound, and a visitor that Lana hadn't expected to see walked in. Janus looked at the sickly in their beds, glanced at Eva as she changed the bandages on Lana's injuries, and then locked eyes with Lana. He slowly walked to her bed, his steps measured and hesitant, and his eyes no longer focused on Lana but still locked on her. His gaze sent chills up her spine, much like it did to anyone who was at the receiving end, but she meet it and kept her gaze locked with his, starting an unspoken blinking contest.

"Hello there instructor, good to see you've decided to drop by" Eva smiled at him sincerely, berating Janus but in the motherly fashion that said she didn't approve of his lateness but knowing that was just the way he was.

"Good morning Nurse" Janus said rather formerly and stiffly, something Janus never did.

As he approached closer Lana picked up the faint smell of alcohol and, delving into the spiritual ether, saw his normally solid black aura ripple and spike. An aura that had been as constant as day and night was Janus', always a solid black ring around himself. At most times it looked like a shield surrounding him, trying to keep everything in and everyone out, but once in a long while she would catch him dropping his shield. It seemed from his spiking aura, crumpled robe, uncombed hair, and sweat glistening face that the past two days had not gone well for him.

"Good morning sir" greeted Lana as Janus reached her bedside. He looked around the room awkwardly, like a kid caught with his had in the cookie jar, before he turned back around to face Lana.

"How are you feeling?" Janus asked, his voice not exactly filled with concern. His eyes were roaming about the room again, seeking to impart the idea that he really didn't care how see was feeling.

"It's not too bad, just wish that I could get out of here already. All this sitting in bed is getting boring" responded Lana "Though I hadn't thought about what all that fire would do to my hair" she frowned briefly and rubbed her hand over the purple stubble that was growing at a slightly faster rate due to the regeneration spells.

"Hmmm" grunted Janus, sweeping his gaze back to Lana, his nervousness gone at finding a topic he could discuss without embarrassment "It seems you failed to think about a great many of the things that would happen" In an instance his voice was its' normal cold and criticizing tone. It was the voice he normally used and this time Lana was tired of being called down for doing something not up to Janus' standards.

"I won didn't I" stated Lana "Jake even stopped by to congratulate" She pointed to the flowers next to her bed with a card attached to them saying "Congratulations" and "Get Well Soon" in big bold lettering. "While you come by two days later, not even saying good job despite the fact that I won. Some concern you have for your students" accused Lana, anger building in her voice.

"I don't congratulate weaklings" replied Janus matter-of-fact, meeting the fiery glare sent by Lana. Her eyes grew large at the remark and she launched another verbal assault.

"It's because I'm a Mage hunter isn't it, afraid that I can actually beat a great-and-powerful mage? Afraid that perhaps your precious magic doesn't make you as powerful as you think you are?" Lana raised a finger up to stop Janus' rebuttal and quickly launched into another speech "Let me tell you something mister high-and-mighty, you people rely on magic way too much. Your all to afraid to actually do something for yourself and get your hands dirty!"

Janus simply glared in response, a verbal response un-forthcoming to his lips, and his stoic demeanor remaining unchanged. He agreed, reluctantly, that most of the staff and students had come to rely on Magic, as well as technology, a bit too much. The peoples lust for magic, seeking comfort from manual labor, had been one of the reason's Zeal had fallen, but he wasn't about to tell her she was right. He was the teacher and she was the student, not the other way around, and arguing with students was like trying to argue with Spekkio, whether you lost or won you felt stupid regardless.

"Ms. Asimari" said Janus forebodingly "I came here to tell you that due to your reckless-ness, and your extended hospital stay as a result, all the available Observers in the field have already been assigned a student. There are no openings for you"

Lana felt her stomach fall, her mouth hang agape, and her eyes widen to large dishpans at this announcement. Missing the 6 months of study under an active Observer was something that was only reserved for those at the bottom of the class. Every year some had to be left behind, those with the highest grades were given first-in-line privilege and those that were found wanting ended up being left behind until the next cycle. It took a tremendous effort not to scream out loud or cry, she would not show weakness to HIM, and Lana slowly, but surely, resumed her composure with a frown. "I see" was all she said.

Eva seemed to suddenly appear out of thin air, though she had spent the whole conversation attending Lana's wounds, and hearing her talk startled the normally rock-solid warlock. "My dear what about you?" she asked him "What do you do while the students are away?"

Janus saw where this line of questioning was leading, and he didn't like it one bit. "I have other obligation" he commented, making a swift turn to get in position to leave. Though the fact that he was retreating from an 80-something year old nurse was not lost on him.

"None-sense Janus dear, I know you have the next six months off. Why don't you take young Lana under your wing, show her those Observer things you and your friends do" Eva spoke and smiled, looking at Lana and urging her to do the same. Lana looked from Eva, to Janus, to Eva, and then back to Janus.

"Eva, it's ok really. I'll just study and practice until I get my chance, besides I wouldn't want to impose on him" Lana shook her head and noticed Janus inched further away from the meddling Nurse, she silently urged him on.

"None sense, I'll not have a bright young student like you left to rot away during the break. That just won't do, won't do at all. I'll recommend that you be left under his tutelage since you couldn't get an observer in time, don't worry I know someone that knows someone" Eva smiled, winked one eye at Lana, and turned to walk slowly back down the corridor of beds.

"I wouldn't want to trouble you" said Janus through clenched teeth, this was not going well. He had things to do, not entirely official things, but never-the-less he had planned a strict training regime for himself. All these months of teaching were making him soft and if he did want to save his sister he'd need to be in his top performance to do so. Having Lana along would slow his pace drastically.

"Oh it's no trouble dearie, consider it a favor to me" then she was gone, through the white sliding doors and out of their range. Janus turned slowly to regard Lana, her small exotic eyes measuring him up as well, and gave a final grunt before marching out the door to find the troublesome nurse.

Lana flopped back down into her bed, falling into the small Lana-shape imprint that had formed during her sojourn here, and gave a mocking grunt. How exactly a simple nurse was able to push around the most brooding and cold-hearted teacher of the school was beyond her understanding, clearly there was more going on that Lana knew.

Whether Eva actually had the pull to have her assigned under Janus was indifferent, these next six months were going to be long.

------/

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen" greeted Belthasar, standing at the head of the table. Those assembled, the council members of Chronopolis, were gathered at a large black opal table and filled in all ten seats except for the seat opposite of Belthasar. They were dressed in dark black robes, except for the medical councilor, and the different colored edgings of the robes told viewers the department the councilor was in charge of. Except Belthasar who was dressed in a dark blue robe with intricate gold patterns sewn around the edges, signifying that he was the head of the council and the one who made all the major decisions.

"I hope you are all doing well tonight" continued Belthasar as he lowered his aging joints into his seat. Deep wrinkles lined his smiling face and his scrawny hands, which moved slowly to tuck his long grey beard under the table and then sit passively back on the smooth black surface. He surveyed the group seated before him, a motley crew to be sure, but Belthasar trusted them to run the day to day operations of the Chronopolis.

"This marks the start of the Council of Time Observation on the 29th day of March of the year A.C. 20. Let us open up the floor with the last issue we were discussing before we ended last meeting" he spoke as stenographer off to the side typed up what was being said and a recording device, a black cone, that was placed in the middle of the table made audio records.

"If I remember right it has to deal with the overflow of students" he spoke as his eyes sought out Eva, the medical department's councilor, and awaited her to continue where he had left off.

"It was the overflow of students coupled with the lack of teachers and observers that are available to send students to for their field trials. Last meeting we had a rather animated conversation where Mr. Beckam explained that there is a surge in recruiting because they think that by joining the Observers they get a chance to change the past" explained Eva, her motherly demeanor abandoned in this cut throat environment. John Beckam shuffled a handful of papers, directing everyone's brief attention towards him, before addressing the front given to him.

"Ms. Moore must mean to say that our new commercials', promoting the preservation of the past, has been taken at a slightly different perspective than we had thought. We make sure to have them read the contract, twice, so that they understand that, at no point in an Observers career, are they entitled a chance to change the past outside of the changes needed to preserve it" smoothly replied Beckam, placing down the stack of papers he had used to gain the council's attention.

John was rotund individual, not necessarily fat but just chubby, with short curly brown hair and brown large eyes. Though no one considered him a coward it was known that he was always looking out for number one, himself, and everyone else was second. The edging on the robe was light green, signifying a new start, and that was because for those that signed up to become an Observer, it was a new start. So it was that he was in charge of Observer recruiting.

Two aged hands slowly rose up to stop any further comments from the two, and then slowly came back down once their were none. "Friends, let us not bicker amongst ourselves. The rules of the council must be followed John, please await your turn to address the topic and let Ms. Moore Finish her statement" Belthasar said calmly, quickly throwing water on what could have been a big fire. Eva had been correct, last meeting had been rather animated, and ended with John and Eva yelling back and forth at Eachother.

"I apologize, I spoke out of turn" John bowed his head slightly and motioned to Eva "Please continue Ms. Moore"

"I apologize for the slight I have thrown your way John, what I mean to say is that because these recruits think they get a chance to correct a mistake in the past they are signing up to join" a few heads nodded in agreements, John's being one of them "I realize that having a high recruiting period is a god-send for a venture such as this, but we don't have the staff and facility to handle the increase that was happening before this rumor, much less the current overflow. Ten years ago I would have agreed that we had all the staff we would need but starting five years ago we've had to pull more and more active observers in from the field for teaching positions, positions that we all thought would be temporary. This afternoon I think I might have accidentally stumbled on a solution, If you'll hear me out" Eva paused and let the head councilor consider her proposal. Belthasar in turn swept his gaze across the other's present to see the opinions on their faces. After a second or two he nodded and Eva continued.

"I suggest we re-instate observers that have been taken off the access list to so we can push more students through" some councilor's gasped, others only nodded, and Eva looked at Belthasar for his opinion. Putting ex-Observers back on the gate access list was a big deal, they were taken off for a reason after all, and the topic was normally taboo.

"Hmm, I see the reasoning behind your suggestion. Any arguments against this?" the aged council head asked.

Henry Vose, the head of Security, raised his hand, almost like a child would in school, and Belthasar asked him to state his opinion. "Gents and ladies, I want students to get through without all this waiting about as well but being the head of Security I have to ask if what you suggest is smart. Think about it, we took their access away for a reason, old age and death aside, and I don't think giving it back to people who might abuse it is a good idea" he paused as if to make another argument, but then let it drop "Just sayin is all" Henry shrugged and Belthasar looked across the table for any other arguments.

"Any rebuttal to this Ms. Moore?"

"I'm not suggesting we just give it back to them without any restrictions. Give them missions to time periods where they can't change much to begin with. There are some prime examples where so much time travel has taken place prior to creation of the Chronopolis that not much can alter the time lines there permanently, they always seem to form back up on their own. Another options is to stick them where undoing any change they might create would be easy" she paused, feeling her old age in her joints and body, and the gave a last appeal "We'd have to give it great thought, I don't recommend this lightly, but I feel that it would work until this rumor stops spreading and dies. This would buy us time to train more instructors and the students that we pass could replace the Observers that leave active status to teach" she ended her speech, sitting back in her heavily padded chair and waited.

"Any other further arguments?" asked Belthasar.

"How would we decide who is re-instated?" asked Atihai Serrano, head of the personal department. Keeping accurate and up-to-date records on Observers, staff, and recruits was handled there, kept in the same branch as the operations. Atihai was a small woman, dark tan skin, straight black hair, and small exotic eyes proclaiming she hailed from one of the smaller island regions, and her manner was all business and to the point. The black and white stripped edgings signified the paper work that her department dealt with, true or false, yes or no.

"I don't know yet, it would have to be a decision the council makes if we decide to try it. Although I do have a test subject in mind if such a test could show us how much we could trust them" explained Eva, silently thanking Atihai for brining the topic forward. Her original fear was that it would just be "thought upon for later" and dropped like a number of other radical ideas like it. Now it seemed she had to finish convincing them.

"This grows interesting" commented Belthasar "Please do tell us of this test subject"

"Janus Zeal" bluntly spoke Eva, gasps coming from several of the councilors while other just shook their head in silent disagreement. Janus was a known, very well known, time trouble maker. The search for his sister, and his attempted rescue of, had cause quite a scene some years ago. Though Belthasar had allowed him to continue work at the Chronopolis, much to the dismay of his council, Janus' access card to the time gates had been revoked. Many still remember the chaos that he had caused and would not easily forget it.

"I know that most here would disagree with me, but please hear me out before making your decision. It has been 8 years since his time violation and 8 years can greatly change a person" Eva sighed, regretting the need to tell them the next part "I have to admit that I have also taken a personal interest in this case. He's a good teacher, a bit mean and bull-headed sometimes, but a good teacher. Having a student along with him during his missions should prevent him from any hasty actions" Eva stopped, still looking at unconvinced faces across the board, then added "I don't think letting him stagnate in the Chronopolis is good for him or for this station"

Several disapproving glares, even hateful ones, were sent her way before Eva was finished and several still lingered even after she was done. The air was tense, every councilor there wanted to add their input to this discussion, but none would say anything until Belthasar gave them the floor. Unfortunately they had to wait in their tense silent, seconds ticking by, before he made his decision after quick, but thorough, consideration.

"Ms. Moore, I agree with you evaluation of the situation, and I also permit Janus Zeal to be re-instated as a part-time Observer" several councilor's almost choked on their tongues at this point but most kept quiet "His access to the gate will only be for this field training period, and only if he is taking his assigned student with him. Also, as a precaution, I'm making the Zeal time period off limits to him. I expect an evaluation of his situation in three weeks, where we will see if changes need to be made or if the situation has become too risky to allow continuation" he stopped and turned to face Eva "I expect you to take full responsibility for this situation Ms. Moore as it is your idea. I hope your faith in him is not misplaced"

The rest of the meeting covered the usual topics, accounting, training progress, the status of security, a recounting of all the time fixes since last meeting, and then its' conclusion. Eva left with a bad feeling in her gut, knowing it wasn't caused by the venomous stares sent her way, but because she still felt unsure of her own plan. She had watched Janus Zeal over these past 8 years and his outlook hardly seemed to improve, a brooding lone wolf, and something needed to be done. Few teachers were as important to the survival of this facility as he, few teachers could harness the dark powers he could, and few knew the story of his life like Eva did. Hopefully, she thought, by providing him with something to keep his mind busy and forced human interaction he'd come out of that self made prison of his. Before everything else, Eva was a nurse first and foremost, and helping Janus was something that she'd needed to do for awhile, not only for his sake, but also for her own.

--/

Janus walked quickly down the already quick moving walkway, saving only mere seconds of travel time in the process. Every second counted right now though, a thought that normally didn't cross his mind, and he was hell bent on squeezing any extra time from his locomotion. His long purple hair, colored a dark brown to everyone else, spread out behind him like a cape as he pushed his way past other riders that he shared the moving walkway with. Some shouted insults, others just surprise, as he cut a line through the waiting throngs.

The final point of his destination was the Conference Room, serving as the council's meeting room when they had their meetings and also as a room for various briefs. Not more than 5 minutes ago a Message-Bot had interrupted his ever-so-interesting conversation with Gasper, having something to do with a discussion of what exactly Spekkio was anyway, and had told him that the council was expecting to meet him in the Conference Room ASAP. Most days out of the week Janus would have taken a lengthy jaunt to make them wait as long as possible, but the message had made mention of possible gate-access reinstatement. For that Janus would move mountains and pushing people aside without concern was well within that tolerance.

At last he reached his destination, using a quick levitation spell to leap over the last small group of students, and stood before the small unassuming double doors with the words "Conference Room" spelled out above it in big, bold, block letter. Though the doors looked like any other doors you might find at Chronopolis, they represented a small light at the end of the long and dark tunnel Janus was constantly traveling through. He stopped a moment, smoothing out his robes and scattered hair, before walking through the gateway.

Exactly 30 minutes later Janus stepped from the room with a new goal. Though he had only been given restricted access to the gates, the council had implied that perhaps full access would be granted at a future time if his current performance was sustained. Now his knowledge and skill would be bared to train his assigned student as best as he could, a student that would thoroughly test the bounds of his patients and good will. Lana Asimari.

Coming when it's done- Chapter 2: Getting To Know Eachother


	2. Chapter 2

Well chapter 2 is out at last. The ship was underway for awhile and we were doing drills and such so I hadn't much time to write. The story picks up a bit at this point as devious things are afoot. Again I don't own anything Square-Enix owns because they are much cooler than me :0 Well, enjoy and please let me know what you think in a review.

Chapter 2: Ozzie Gets the Last Laugh

The large circle portal glistened, even in the dim room, and imparted a sense of foreboding on all who saw it. Even Ozzie the XXVI was intimidated by the immense object, but hid it behind a constant charade of bravado. The fat green mystic circled his new purchase, examining the strange symbols carved along the edges, and smiled in satisfaction. It had cost him his entire family's fortune to purchase this Time Gate, a fortune that had taken the Ozzie's many generations to save.

Once they had been a great family, or so his grandfather said, and almost conquered the kingdom Gaurdia in times long gone. His grandfather talked a lot about that war, though it had been many ages before his grandfather's time, and every time he reminisced he cursed a certain creature named "Frog". After his Grandfather's death, Ozzie had vowed that he would restore the family to the place it once had.

"It works, correct?" asked Ozzie to the tall orange lizard-mystic who stood at attention behind him. Vlag was as tall as Ozzie was wide and had at one time held the rank of General in Medina's National Armed Forces. He still wore his old dress uniform, which was not suited to combat at all, with green pressed and ironed trousers and an equally pressed tan short sleeve dress shirt. A reflective belt was around his wait, made of a unique mystic-made metal, and his rank was displayed proudly on his shoulder board. Though retired he wore all his old medals and had so many that they created an impenetrable barrier over that section of his chest. His clawed hands and feet were too large to fit into boots or gloves so he wore neither, it made him look more dangerous with his natural weapons unsheathed.

"Of course, I had the men test it before it was delivered" stated Vlag, motioning to the imp scientist stationed at their computer consoles to power up the system.

It was an older version, for the price it had to have been, and it required several minutes to store and generate the power needed for a precise time jump. Even then it wasn't the most accurate instrument in the world, but it had an accuracy rating of 70 and that was good enough for Ozzie. He still couldn't believe his luck in finding someone corrupt enough in the government to sell him one. To think it had just been sitting uselessly in a warehouse somewhere, no on would miss it. That made the plan all the better.

Ozzie swiftly turned, causing his white rob and immense bulk to throw itself in that direction, and walked to stand next to Vlag.

"Today is the day I restore my family's lost honor" vowed Ozzie in an ominous voice. Not him personally of course, even he wasn't stupid enough to think that he could stand up to the amphibious knight, or anyone for that matter, in a fight. Instead he would send a proxy in his place. A present found, and left behind, by his grandfather.

"Geon, front and center" command Vlag in his drill instructor voice.

_He might as well have been commanding a wall to move_, thought Ozzie, _Geon only responds to me_.

"Come now Geon, come to Ozzie. That's a good girl" spoke Ozzie in a voice reserved for small children or loved pets, Geon was neither however.

From the natural darkness that consumed everything outside the small fluorescent lamps' field stepped a female snack mystic. Not a mystic, but a creation, Ozzie reminded himself. Her scales were a thick forest green with brown scaly stalks that protruded from her head and ran down her shoulders like hair. Ozzie had to admit, had she not been a creation he would have been quite attracted to her, even now he still was despite his denials. Much like an artist strives to paint the perfect painting, Ozzie envisioned her creator had strived to make her look as close to the perfect feminine form as possible. As she walked Ozzie found himself hypnotized by her graceful movements, not to mention the perfect curves, and then realized that she had forgone wearing clothes again.

"What did I tell you about wearing clothes" asked Ozzie in a stern fatherly like voice.

"Clothes interfere in movements necessary for combat, and disrupt my ability to blend into my surroundings" stated Geon in a neutral voice, void of any feelings. It sounded much like a chorus of snakes combining all their voices to speak at once.

"I am your master, you heed what I say" complained Ozzie, in a much more childish manner than he intended "And I said to wear clothes"

"I am merely stating that it would interfere with my primary function, I cannot perform an action that would severely impair my combat abilities" replied Geon in the same lifeless voice.

Before Ozzie had another temper-tantrum Vlag gave a curt cough, brining his ranting CO back to his senses. Sometime Vlag wondered at the wisdom of serving under anyone that whined as such when something didn't go there way. Like most military men he tried not to think about this and only about performing the duties required of him. After all, he'd worked under much more ignorant and childish officers in his time.

"Sir the portal is ready for time projection. Request date" sounded one of the lanky imps that operated a console.

"595 A.D., five years before he meddles with the Great Ozzie" supplied Ozzie.

"Sir, I suggest that perhaps we kill him when he is younger and more vulnerable. A less likely chance he'll survive" said Vlag quietly to Ozzie. He did not want to outright challenge the tubby crybaby if only to avoid destroying the fragile chain of command. Ozzie only glared in return, a comical act coming from his large and weirdly shaped head.

"I want him to die in the state he is, an annoying little frog. He's alone and depressed after the death of his dear friend Cyrus. I want him to feel like a failure as Geon kills him; I want him to see his chance at vengeance taken away from him. I want him to suffer" said Ozzie in a rather dark voice that surprised the battle hardened general.

"Geon" summoned Ozzie "I want you to go through that time portal and kill the one that calls himself 'Frog'. He may also go by the name of Glenn. Use any means possible, and make it a slow and painful death"

The time gate flared to life, creating a blue spiraling portal in the empty center of the Time Gate. Energy pulsed around the edges of the device, the mystic runes and symbols kept the loose energy contained, and it sounded like a great howling wind.

"Go now, before the gate closes" order Ozzie.

"As you command" replied Geon. Without pause and without bothering to take weapons or armor with her. Stepping into the blue portal, she vanished without effects. The blue portal collapsed in on itself and steam rose from the symbols of power as the gate cooled down. The small team of imps gave small high fives and elbows to Eachother at a job well done before an angry glance from Vlag stilled their celebratory gestures.

"How will we know when it works?" asked Vlag.

"I don't know" admitted Ozzie, his gaze still fixed on the hollow space where a time portal had previously been "If she succeeds I'll never have the opportunity to send her back in the first place" Ozzie though aloud, counting each step on a finger "If I never send her back, then she can never kill Frog. If that happens though I still end up here and I send her back"

"A paradox I believe it's called sir" correct Vlag as Ozzie, confused at having both run out of fingers to count on and the fact that it seemed he had finished at the same point he had started, only shrugged.

"And how do you know we can trust that thing to do what you asked?" hissed Vlag "How did you even come to own such a ….monstrosity"

"A gift from my grandfather, said he found her in the catacombs beneath the great Ozzie's castle. Who created her, I do not know" replied Ozzie "She has to follow my commands, or so said my old man, and I trust her explicitly"

"Interesting" commented Vlag. Maybe he would have been better off staying retired after all.

-----/

"So did you hear the news?" asked Gaspar as Spekkio waddled up and jumped to sit at his usual bar stool. He still donned the small white fur-ball form, with its' ungainly long arms and its' short legs, and some patrons looked questioning at the strange creature. Other more frequent visitors ignored the small master of war, knowing that his forms varied day by day.

"Yep yep, glad to hear that Lana won't be left out this cycle" commented Spekkio. His mood happy and chipper as normal "So how exactly did Janus get his gate access back anyway?"

"Eva" replied Gaspar as he polished a large metal tankard, reserved for the next customer that would walk through the doors in 5 minutes.

"Ah that explains it" laughed Spekkio "She just can't seem to stop trying to help him". Spekkio then temporarily put a hold on their conversation as his pizza was delivered to him, a bit late since he had arrived 3 minutes earlier than normal. "A sucker fer lost causes" he manage to get out through a mouthful of pizza.

"She's not the only one, I for one keep working with you to no avail" replied Gaspar, referring to their weekly ritual of chess playing. Though Spekkio was the master of war, Gaspar was the master of chess and during their long stay at the end of time, before the Chronopolis came about, he had been teaching Spekkio a thing or two about the game. His lessons had not penetrated the morphlings thick skull as of yet, but Gaspar had hope that perhaps he could build a successor to one day pass on the brilliance of chess to someone else.

Spekkio snorted in reply, more a laugh than a snort really but the pizza that filled his mouth muted and warped the original sound.

"I also hear that Janus is the test bed for perhaps further ex-Observer reinstatements" Gaspar whispered to Spekkio as he leaned next to the morphling's long white ears to place filled mugs at stools that would be occupied soon "The Observer shortage for students has become too great for the council to ignore"

"You know, for a bartender you certainly know a lot" observed Spekkio as he licked the remains of the pizza off his face, drawing a disappointing glare from Gaspar.

"A bartender has to know his clientele" Gaspar replied professionally and coolly from behind his self built fortress.

"I don't like it though, not one bit. I can't believe Belthasar would agree to something like that" disbelievingly said Spekkio. Though known more for his always happy-go-lucky personality and specialty in battle magic, Spekkio also possessed a keen and cunning intellect. It surfaced rarely.

"He doesn't seem himself lately" agreed Gaspar "Maybe it's just old age kicking in" Gaspar himself was old, still younger than Belthasar by 5 years, but time seemed to affect a person differently here and the passing of years hadn't taken it's toll on him like most others his age. In fact he didn't feel all that different from when he'd first appeared here.

"You and him both old man" commented Spekkio "It was his 100th birthday just a month ago wasn't it?" Much like Gaspar the effects of old age had seemed not to take hold on Belthasar, though his aged appearance didn't support the evidence.

"Don't remind me" sighed Gaspar "I'll go talk to him later this week, on one of my slow days" With reassurance from Gaspar, Spekkio was able to eat the next pizza brought to him with a peace of mind.

---/

The entrance to the west side of the bio-dome was as busy as it was everyday. Moving walkways crisscrossed above while the non-moving kind wove their way from store to store down below, and both were packed with bustling people. Store fronts sat overlooking the vast desert lands that started at the west hemisphere. It was bleak and dry with spots of cactus and the few types of plant life that were capable of surviving with the limited water. An invisible force field kept the scorching hot temperature of the wasteland separated from the air-conditioner created coolness of the stores' walkways. Outside of the force field Lana paced impatiently back and forth, changed from her student attire into a pair of long lose jean shorts and a tank top. The supplies Janus had requested her to bring sat next to her in a large grey seabag.

As soon as Lana had been cleared to leave sick bay she ran into Janus, waiting impatiently right outside the sliding doors. Much to his credit he hadn't immediately glared her into the ground but instead took on his usual role as teacher. Instructing her where and when to meet him at the bio-dome, and what supplies she was to bring. Lana had found it strange that on his extensive list there had been no mention of food, the closet thing was the fishing equipment and that was assuming they found a river. Despite his strict orders Lana decided to make up for the lack of his foresight and several trail rations and ready-to-eat-meals were hidden in her pack. Let him starve if he wants, she planned on eating.

It had been 30 minutes since 1600, the time Janus had instructed her to meet him, yet she had seen neither hide nor hair of him. The first ten minutes were filled with worry that perhaps this had been the wrong entrance, double checking the email printout proved she wasn't here mistakenly. After that her annoyance had been slowly increasing and it was boiling over into anger. _How can he ask me to meet him_, thought Lana, _and then show up late himself?_ Ten more minutes of pacing passed before she raked her hands through her short hair in frustration and sat down next to her bag. _Getting mad is only going to cloud my thoughts_. Reminded Lana to herself,_ Right now I need to cool down and think; why would he keep me waiting?_

She ran through several reasons in her head; maybe he'd forgotten, maybe he had been kept busy elsewhere, or maybe it had all been a joke after all and she was a big dupe. None of those answers seemed likely; his mind was too sharp to simply forget, his teaching job was over while the students were in the field, and he didn't seem the one to play a practical joke, even if he was more than slightly irritated at her. No, it had to something else, something that made more sense. Lana searched her mind for any clues and a memory from her first day in class brought itself to the surface.

"I am going to take every chance to test you; whether you are prepared for it or not" said Janus as he pace back and forth in front of the digi-board "The most important tests are those you aren't expecting"

That was it, he was testing her! Lana almost yelled the answer aloud but kept quiet and continued to think instead. If that's the case, what's the test? Was it to test her patience? Not likely, patience was one thing even the mighty Janus did not have much of. Maybe it was some hidden code in the instructions? No, he wasn't known for his subtly either. _It had to be something hidden in plain view_, she thought, _something that's right in front of my nose_. Then it hit her, _he_ was the something that was hidden in plain view.

A devious smile formed on her face as she slipped her view into the spiritual realm, looking for Janus' tall-tale black aura. There it was, sitting on the second story balcony of a coffee shop. At this distance it was no wonder she couldn't make him out with her normal vision but, as auras went his could stand out quite a distance. _He's already testing my powers_, thought Lana,_ sounds like Janus alright._ Two could play this game. If he was going to sit and enjoy his coffee, or whatever he drank, then she'd go enjoy some pizza. Waving in his general direction, she pointed to the pizza shop a short walk away and hoisted her seabag over he shoulders.

--/

Ten minutes later a rather annoyed Janus was pulling Lana away by her short hair. Similar to Lana, Janus also had a grey seabag full of, well, whatever a warlock brings on a camping trip. It floated alongside him as he "coaxed" Lana into following him.

"Well you seemed so comfy up there drinking your latte'" commented Lana between grunts of pain "I thought, 'Heck I'll go get some pizza while he finishes up'"

"I instructed you to meet me there at 1600, not to be there at 1600 and then go get a pizza when it suited you" pointed out Janus, keeping the swift pace of his walk. Lana had back peddled to keep up with the angry instructor, trying in vain to break the grip he had on her hair.

"Well maybe you should have been there then" suggested Lana "You did say 'meet you there', not 'meet you there after and wait for you to drink your coffee'". That statement was unfair to Janus as he hadn't been drinking coffee, but rather a large mug of Hot Chocolate.

"I am the teacher here, and I make the rules" gruffly said Janus, pulling to an abrupt stop before the transparent force-field of the bio-dome "I suggest you get used to it. Now, did you bring all of the items I listed?"

"Yes oh great and powerful teacher, I did as your holiness commanded" sarcastically said Lana. Janus released his grasp on her and turned to grab her seabag, digging inside to see for himself if she was indeed telling the truth.

"Hey hey, those are my clothes you're going through" pointed out Lana as Janus lifted a pile out of the bag and put it in her arms. She had no other recourse except to fume at the course of events as various students and staff passed her by, giving her questioning glances. Upon seeing Janus rummaging around in the bag next to her, their glances turned from questioning to sympathetic. Janus cruelty was known station wide.

He pulled out several bags of trail mix and canned goods, muttering a quick spell to incinerate them on site, before he was satisfied and put the pile of clothes back into the bag. "What was that for?"

"Those were not on the list" said Janus as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What are we going to eat if I can't bring food" questioned Lana as she re-organized the messy seabag.

"Who knows, I'm sure you'll find something" shrugged Janus "Now, we've got to make it 10 miles inland before dark". Lana looked out across the sea of dirt and rock, at the sun setting in the horizon, and then back to Janus.

"That's in 2 hours"

"Better hurry then" stated Janus.

"And what about you" glared Lana, not liking the implied statement "Or are you just sending me out in the wilderness to get me out of your hair"

"I'll be out there with food. I suggest you find me" and with that Janus vanished in a flash of light. Leaving Lana alone, and angry. "I am so going to kick his ass once I find him" she stated before breaching the invisible barrier.

The difference in temperatures was immense and she immediately began sweating all over. Lana noticed that while the force field was invisible when looking into the dome, now that she was inside a dark black void prevented her from seeing through to the other side. _It's like a one way window_, Lana mused. She had never been the outdoors type and this was the first time she'd ventured inside the spacious bio-dome.

Looking out across the barren and dry desert dimmed her spirits and examining the position of the sun in the sky made Janus' goal seem impossible. _Why did it have to be a desert?_ W_hy not a nice shaded forest with a small stream or something_? _Because he's Janus, that's why_, responded Lana to her own question. With a last irritated growl Lana fastened her seabag onto her shoulders and back, wishing she too could levitate it, and started at a fast jog due west.

--/

Humans were fun to hunt, decided Geon as she looked at the most recent kill. A large bulk of a man, by human standards anyway, but he was just as easy as the last few that had the misfortune to be on the road this night. The first victim, a surprised traveling merchant that had happen to see her suddenly appear in the middle of the road, had supplied her with a general area where Frog could be found, a place called the Cursed Woods. The Second had provided her with a general profile of her target; a bi-pedal frog with a rather large sword and rusted breast plate. Her last, and the current corpse sitting nearby, had verified the already gathered information.

It seemed this Frog character had once been a skilled swordsman but an encounter with Magus had changed him forever. Now he isolated himself from the rest of the world and emerged only to fight off the injustices caused by the invading mystics. Both had spoken that Frog, or Glenn as the last man had called him, was a great warrior and soon she would feel the edge of his blade as it sliced her in twain. Geon hoped for this; hoped to feel the cut of a sharp sword as the two battled for survival.

The hunter kept towards her current heading, not bothering to hide or dispose of the large man's body, and ran full-out in hopes of a confrontation this night. The feeling of the hunt was once again running through her veins; she only hoped that her prey proved himself worthy of attention.

---/

The sun had long ago vanished, replaced by glistening stars and a bright moon, yet Lana still had no idea about how far she'd gone or where Janus was. Her pace had been reduced to a slow walk, her throat was dry, and she had no idea where she was going. To all sides of her an endless sea of sand stretched far into the distance, an occasional rock breaking up the monotony, and nothing that could be used as a landmark. The seabag was also beginning to take its' toll, the contents weighing more than half of her own weight, and she was minutes away from dragging it behind her. All in all, Lana was threatening Janus with much more than just an ass whooping, visions of him being thrown off a tall cliff dance about in her head.

As entertaining as it was, thinking like that wasn't going to get her anywhere. _Enough is enough_, Lana told herself, _this is just another damn test of his. I found him the first time by spotting his aura, but that was only 40 or 50 feet away, not several miles. There is no way I can sense that far, but then again it sounds like that is exactly what he wants to test._

_It's worth a shot at least._

Lana stopped, breathing in several deep and calming breaths, before slipping her sight into the ethereal plain. Rotating around in a full circle she saw nothing, just the pale colored surroundings that the world appeared as through her ethereal vision. Sitting down cross-legged and breathing even slower, she attempted to find him just in her current field of view. The calmer she was, the easier it was to pick up auras. Still there was nothing.

Resisting her first urge to stand up and scream into the night, cursing the evil scheming teacher, Lana instead slowed her breathing further and let her mind and muscles relax. It took several minutes till she felt at ease and her muscles felt fully relaxed. Next she pictured Janus' aura, a bright black beckon, in her mind. Lana thought about it in detail, recalling to a tee, exactly what it looked like and exactly what Janus was like. A lone, brooding, bully who hid behind the shield he created to keep the world out. She held this image in her head, bending all her will to try and find this particular aura. At first it was just a small black dot, barely noticeable, but slowly it gained mass until she was sure that it was the aura she was after. Lana drew an arrow in mid-air, a ghostly duplicate of her actions lingered in the air and continually pointed towards he intended target. Satisfied, Lana flipped her vision back to the corporeal world.

At last broken from her trance like state, Lana sucked in air like she had just run a marathon. Her clothes and skin were covered in a thicker sheet of sweet and her brain felt like it was going to explode inside her skull. The urge to lie down and go to bed was so strong that Lana found herself staring up at the false stars before realizing that she was already lying on her back. The weariness passed before sleep could take her and her brain slowly registered what had happened. It had been her first time trying anything like this, how she knew what to do baffled her, and she figured that this was exactly what Janus had hopped to do. Test her limits and then exceed them.

Her aura reading ability had never been something she had taken seriously, just something to have fun with every once in awhile. What she had glimpsed while searching for Janus' aura though made her rethink this analysis. If this was just the tip of what she could do with it, or even if this was all it could do, either way Lana found herself smiling despite the headache and exhaustion. _Maybe having Janus' as an instructor wasn't all that bad_, she thought, _but_ _I am still kicking his ass_. With that goal in mind, Lana switched back into her ethereal view and followed her lingering astral arrow.

-/

Janus paced back and forth in front of his small tent, worry evident on his face. Every so often he would stop and listen, then resume pacing again. Janus wasn't suppose to worry, Janus didn't worry, and anyone viewing his frantic back and forth walk would wonder if perhaps he had finally gone insane. Unknown to all though was the dark warlock did worry, but only in his private quarters or publicly after a few drinks.

_Maybe I expected too much from her_, thought Janus as he paced, _after all no one knows exactly how her ability works. Maybe she can't see me from this far-away, there's probably a range to it after all. Why am I even worrying in the first place, it's only ten miles. Not like it's over the horizon or anything. She might even be able to see me. Maybe I should start a fire. That would surely signal my position. Why do I even care?_

This had been going on since the sun had disappeared, and Janus was wondering if perhaps he should act instead of argue with himself. A soft scraping sound stopped his pacing as he listened carefully for anything else. Since his eyes were adjusted to the night vision he saw a small figure walk slowly up to the campsite dragging a large bag behind her that was making the sound he had hear earlier.

"You could have at least lit a fire for me" complained Lana.

"Your late" grunted Janus "Luckily I saved you some dinner". With a snap of his fingers a large bonfire was roaring in the fire pit just feet away from Lana. She jumped back, making a small whelping sound, and glared angrily at the offending warlock.

The aforementioned dinner was a large bird, its' features so mutilated that the species was impossible to tell, and it hung suspended on a stick over the large fire. Next to it was a bucket of water with a ladle hanging off to the side. Lana looked at her dinner with mixed feelings. While it was indeed edible, the fire large enough to easily cook the load, she wasn't exactly known for being outdoors savvy and the years staying at the Chronopolis had pampered her.

"Looks…delicious" said Lana, her voice deflated. Janus grunted again, he did that a lot Lana mused, and turned to go to bed. "When the sun rises, we rise" was all he said before slipping behind the folds of his tent.

"Says the one who spent the last 4 hours sitting around and eating" complained Lana aloud. Janus gave no response from his small place of solitude so Lana grunted in his stead and went to work putting her tent up first. The bird could wait for now, having a place to immediately pass out in after eating was first on her list.

--/

Geon waited, perfectly still, for Frog to walk into the trap awaiting him. The relentless pace she had kept through the night had paid off; bringing her to a large clearing where, her instincts said, Frog resided nearby. The scales that covered her body blended in perfectly with the surrounding, magically taking on the colors of trees and bushes, and her position was impossible to discern. Despite the desire to move and track Frog further, Geon knew that she had nothing to go by and that the best idea was to wait. And wait she did.

At last, after several hours of waiting and listening to the various forest creatures, Geon heard footsteps. Soft yet solid, a sign of small stature but great weight; all that armor of his wasn't made of feathers after all. Her quarry walked slowly, and morosely, through light bushes and stepped into the clearing. Frog was not seemingly bothered by the various predators that lurked in the bushes, from either stupidity or experience Geon noted. The way he carried his sword informed her that he was more than comfortable with his blade; it was an extension of himself. The forest green cape he wore no doubt held something within the folds, a shield was the most likely choice, as she noted the bruisers on his arm where a buckler would normally be worn.

His large bulbous eyes, perhaps his biggest advantage at this point, were fixed firmly on the ground as he walked. Perhaps if he had been looking up, or paying a bit more attention, he would have noticed the small movements in the bush as Geon adjust her position in preparation for a pounce. Perhaps he also would have noticed the sudden quiet that blanketed the woods, the quick escape of the smaller creatures that lurked near by as they sensed a predator about to attack. Despite being a frog he was not instilled with these natural instincts and so the only thought to occur to him before he slipped into darkness was wondering exactly what had jumped from the bushes.

----/

Lana awoke in a cold sweat, trashing violently as she tried to fend off imaginary flames. The nightmares still haunted her ten years after the fire but this time something felt different. It hadn't been the fire that had woken her up, but a building sense of dread. Almost like she knew something horrible was going to happen, but not exactly sure what it was or how to stop it. It was a horrible pain, not physical or mental, but spiritual of nature. She had to move, walk or run or something, before the feeling chilled her to the core.

Hastily stumbling out of her tent still in the night previous clothes, she noticed that the sun was still below the horizon but the moon provided sufficient illumination to see by. Janus was also there, staring at the sinking moon, and unaware of Lana's presence.

"The Black Wind howls" he spoke softly, full of foreboding and menace "Much like it did back then"

"You feel it too?" asked Lana, her voice startling the warlock so much he almost lost his composure "I get the feeling that a great loss is going to occur, like something or someone is going to die. I can't describe it really, but it hurts deep in my soul. Like I'm supposed to stop this from happening"

Janus actually arched an eyebrow at this, startled twice in one minute, and evaluated the situation. "It's called the Black Wind" he finally said, deciding that her admission warranted the information "Yes, I feel it too"

"What is it?"

"Time itself speaking to us, lamenting the imminent loss of someone or something important to it. Crying out for help to those that can hear it, similar to a child" explained Janus, for once weaving dramatics in with his lesson.

"So what do we do?"

"We do nothing" Janus' voice turned cold and hard "Time can help itself"

"But..."

"Go back to sleep, the morning is still an hour or two away and you will need the rest" urged Janus, with something that might loosely resemble concern in his voice.

"Shouldn't we help though?" Lana asked, to her helping someone who asked for it was a natural reaction. This sounded important which gave her all the more desire to help.

"No, we will not" stated Janus with enough ice in his voice to freeze Lana to her spot "Go to bed, NOW!" Lana scurried back into her tent, passing into a fitful sleep, while Janus forlornly watched the sinking moon. _The black wind could howl all it wanted to_, Janus said to himself, _it will get no help from me_. _Once I save my sister I will have nothing more to do with this station or time traveling ever again, this I swear._

_----/_

"We have a time deviation at 599 A.D, month 4, day unknown. Current cause is a VIP of history has been eliminated, Affects are numerous and listed on display" announced a time scope operator as he ran through his comparison between the recorded timeline and the newly received time data.

"Signaling code red" he proceeded to announce "Cause: Extreme timeline deviation requiring immediate correction"

Jenkins immediately sat upright in his nicely padded chair which overlooked the entire archives department. It had been a long and boring twelve hour shift thus far, a godsend, and the sudden elevation to a Code red without his authorization wasn't something he'd consider good.

"Operator number 4, report reason for setting code red without my approval" announced Jenkins as he strode down the stairs that lead up to his central seat. Jenkins cast his green eyed gaze to operator number 4, waiting for an answer.

"Sir, as per regulations, if any of The Six are eliminated prior to their pre-determined death a Code red is to be initiated without the need of approval from the watch captain" announced Operator number four, a young blonde haired man with a brown and determined gaze.

_Oh boy_, thought Jenkins, _THIS is definitely not good_.

"Understood" replied Jenkins, the regulations did state exactly what the young operator had said and Jenkins knew when he was wrong "Which of The Six?"

"Glenn, also known as 'Frog' in that time period" announced the operator.

"What killed him?" asked Jenkins as he walked briskly over to the wall panel to bring up operator four's display but on his own council.

"Unknown, no recording bots assigned to that time slot. Shall I send one out?"

"Send out 2" ordered Jenkins "Continue in-depth monitoring number 4, numbers 10 through 20 find out exactly what his death affects and record all pertinent data"

"Very well" they all stated back in unison.

---/

The morning came, much as it always did after every night, but it all seemed the same to Janus as he waited for his pupil to rise from her slumber. He could still feel the black wind howling, desperate now, but still he sat uncaring. It wasn't his concern anymore and he'd be damned if he was going to care. It didn't silence the wind though, made it howl only louder, now all he wished for was a way to mute it.

Lana stumbled, red eyed, from her very badly made tent. It seemed that despite her best attempts the pup tent refuse to remain upright, a lack of tying the stakes down Janus noted. A fresh set of clothing had replaced Lana's dirt and sweat covered pair, but they already seemed dirty from just being in the dusty environment. Janus could sense her frustration as she took one look at him, and then went to packing her tent without saying but a word. Whatever he'd done to gain her ire he hoped to keep it; she was much quieter this way.

"After you are done packing, we will eat and then head towards the mountains" instructed Janus as Lana was violently pushing her tent back into it's' bag.

"So even the great Janus eats break feast?" commented Lana after fiercely hammering away at her tent. "Can't you ignore hunger like everything else that slows you down?" The acid in her voice actually shocked Janus, the kind of anger behind her words he'd expect to be reserved for accusing someone of murder.

"What is it now?" asked Janus; he had absolutely no patience to deal with her anger this morning and if pissing her off shut her up, then so be it.

"Nothing, nothing at all" grunted Lana as she returned to packing, but only for a moment before she turned back around to face him. "No, no it's something alright"

"Then what is it?" asked Janus through clenched teeth. Women, sighed Janus, not even Marle and Lucca had never been this bad.

"How can you just sit there and ask what? You hear it too, you know exactly what I'm talking about" accused Lana as she paced up to the warlock in an attempt to stare him down. Her fiery gaze was returned by uncaring and black pupils.

"It's about that?" asked Janus with disbelief in his voice, "For god's sake, why do you care?"

"Why _don't_ you?" asked Lana in return "It hurts, Janus, it hurts my soul to ignore this plead for help"

"Pftt" sighed Janus "What's going to hurt you is getting involved" Already he'd said too much, but he was going to win this argument.

"Is that what happened to you?" asked Lana, walking around Janus while throwing her accusations "You got skinned knees in the past so now you run away. Are you afraid to get hurt again, is that it?"

"You know nothing of the past" replied Janus, the words as cold as ice and hard as the rainbow shell.

"That is the reason isn't it? Don't forget I can read aura's buddy. It's like a giant lie-detector, buddy, so don't even try to deny it" smugly said Lana "You run because you are afraid"

"Do not lecture me on running away!" roared Janus, a visible fire in his eyes "I've fought against things which you cannot begin to comprehend, I alone have stood against foes in such numbers as to make you cringe, I have risen up from nothing to shape countries, I have denied time itself; no, do not lecture me about running away!" Lana looked away, the force behind her words was such that she could do no less, and went back to packing.

"We move!" commanded Janus as Lana stuffed the last of her things away "NOW!"

---/


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry about the long wait, I've got several chapters finished this underway with the ship, and we went to Hong Kong so everything is all good and kosher. Some of you may have noticed that this is increasingly based around OC's, don't worry the focus is still on all stuff Chrono Trigger but I felt that most of the characters had already filed their roles and now they've earned their rest. Most of them. Also the chapters are a bit more bite sized now, but will be updated with new ones more frequently until I run out of reserves. Again I don't own anything square-enix related so don't sue me please.

Send any compliments/complaints my way, reviews are appreciated, and there are no stops on this flight. Enjoy.

Chapter 3: Getting to Know Eachother

_Burning flames of crimson jumped around the room like demons, feeding off the sustenance the furniture and walls provided. Her parent's lie dead, her father over the body of her mother, and the flames were still hungry. Its' hunger was not sated, fire never was, but Lana would have thought that perhaps it would have been content with only devouring part of her life. No, it had taken everything and left her alone in the aftermath. How she'd survived she didn't know or care, evidently the fire had taken pity on the small child; or maybe it only spared her to watch her grieve._

_In the end it hadn't mattered; she was still alone._

--/

The sudden heat brought Lana back to awareness as the dreams and thoughts fled to her subconscious. The same large crimson flames of her nightmares flickered only a few feet away and the sound of sizzling meat crackled in the air. A few more moments of awareness and Lana also noticed what had been previously dusk was now late night, "_Exactly how long have I been zoned out?"_  
The angry duo had spent the entirety of the day marching across the sand blasted landscape before arriving at the desert's edge just as dusk approached. Small bushes and shrubberies dotted the ground and signs of small animal life were about as well. Lana remembered something about seeing a pond around here somewhere but the march and the whole day seemed more like a tired dream than a past reality.  
The sweltering heat of the day, coupled with the lack of food or waters stops, had taken there toll on Lana. Everything seemed more lucid, the world just seemed to make sense, but she had a hard time keeping her eyes open despite her clearer outlook. She wouldn't let Janus have the satisfaction of knowing that he'd wore her out, not in a million years, and so by sheer will alone Lana kept moving.   
Across the fire Lana also saw Janus, seated cross-legged on the ground, staring into the same flames that had been occupying her thoughts. His face was wet with sweat, something that, previous to their journey, Lana hadn't believed him capable of producing. His sweat covered face and arms, dirty and ruffled robe, and disheveled hair made Janus look as worn out as she felt. Something like pity and concern crept into her mind and it occurred to her that Janus was only human after all; someone just trying to do his job and had been through a shitty day. For some reason that made Lana feel worse than she already was.  
It had always been easier to think of the intimidating teacher as an emotionless and tireless oppressor. Someone that was always bringing you down, whether you deserved it or not, and seemed to enjoy doing it. He wasn't supposed to be someone that helped you, wasn't someone with feelings, or someone that cared. Sitting at the fire and looking at the exhausted warlock, Lana realized he might be all of the above.

_He still might be an asshole_, smiled Lana, _but he's an asshole that gives a damn._

"Hey, I'm …I'm sorry about what I said earlier", Lana admitted at last, just loud enough to carry across to her intended target. "You're right when you said I don't know anything about your past. I'm sorry if I've brought any bad memories to the surface."

"It does not matter", responded Janus in a straight-forward manner, "You did not cause them and they would be there regardless."

"I know it's not my place, but sometimes it helps to talk about it." Lana offered. After the fire had destroyed her life she remembered acting much like Janus was now, trying hard not to show her sorrow but coming off as an asshole. The people at The Chronopolis had shown her friendship, even after her attempts to avoid it, and she'd learned that you didn't have to fight by yourself. Now she was trying to extend the same friendship to Janus.

"No", Janus grunted. "My past does not concern you. It is mine to bear alone." Lana was certain she hadn't been the first person to offer aid to Janus, and she was also sure that he would turn down future offers. Something else she'd learned during her ten years here was that sometimes you had to force someone out of their shell, kicking and screaming, if needed.

Lana switched to her ethereal viewpoint to take a look at his current emotional state. His normally black aura was a shadow of itself, more a subdued grey now, but with his emotional batteries drained the normal shield he kept around himself had also been lowered. With the obscuring black orb down it revealed a detailed grey globe underneath with holes and craters; its' condition was more akin to the site of meteor impacts and natural disasters. _Like old battle scars_, she thought in shock.  
A particular injury that piqued her interest was a large gash that ran across his aura's length; it looked less like a gash to Lana and more like a large fissure that one would find torn into the ground. The gash, along with the others wounds, gave it a battle worn feel; it reminded her of dented armor or a chipped sword and the sight of it astounded and horrified the mage hunter. She hadn't even known you could damage an aura.  
As much as she was horrified, she was also curios. _How did he get a wound like this? How come I've never seen wounds on any other aura's I've viewed? Does it hurt? Does he even know it's there?_  
Her curiosity outmatched the need for caution and soon Lana was reaching out through the ethereal to Janus. It was a trick learned long ago, back before the fire, and she hadn't used it since her parent's death, for a variety of reasons. Using it after all these years was hard, requiring a momentous amount of will, and Lana could feel herself encounter a great resistance to her efforts. She didn't give up though, didn't lose without a fight, and Lana pushed her will against the resistance and felt it shatter under her redoubled effort.  
_ Blue haired swirled around a golden frame and soon her vision was lost in a sea of clouds. Nu's merged with old grey bearded men that sat around desks and mumbled to one another. Amazing feats were common place and the common was unnecessary, it belonged on the surface. Golden coated walls meet with ebony marble floors to create a place to dream while others dreamt of dreaming. The dreams made reality and reality shaped the dreams, dancing voices asked questions dared not asked by those not dream-stuff.   
Tubes ran around the great machine as it powered the dream kingdom. Fear and pain were its' source of power, tainting the kingdom built by the warmth of the sun. People welcomed the fear and pain in the guise of ease and comfort. Pain eroded warmth; fear cowed the masses. Soon the dreams ended and the kingdom did as well. Blue hair swirling around a golden face vanishes in a hopefully destructive light._  
The last thing she saw before being pulled into the rush of new memories was Janus rushing over to steady her flailing form. Then all flew away into colors and voices.

---\

"Gasper, my old friend, to what do I owe this visit?" Pleasantly asked Belthasar when he found Gasper standing at his door step, bottle of old Zealian wine in one hand and his ornate chess board in the other.

"I needed someone to play chess with, someone good. Spekkio can't sort out his knights from his pawns", smiled Gaspar as he removed his old boulder hat, exposing a balding head, before entering Belthasar's room. It was the largest of the living quarters, after all he was head of the Chronopolis, but was not nearly as lavishly furnished as one would think.  
Belthasar, beyond all things, was a man that liked order and function; he didn't delegate much space to anything that served no purpose other than be pleasant to the eyes. The back wall of his room had been converted into a giant ebony timepiece that told the time with hands instead of LED's. The rest of the walls were strung with paintings of Zeal, painted by Belthasar and therefore exempt from his strict no-useless-pretty-things allowed rule, and were so detailed that Gaspar swore he was looking across his beloved homeland every time he visited his friend's room. A large bed, fridge, table, robotic Nu, and computer workstation rounded out the rest of the room.  
As the two walked further into the room his hand built Nu powered on, its' movements robotic and stiff, and it offered a seat to both of the Guru's as they approached the table. Belthasar assured him that they did not need to be waited on at the moment and the blue Nu shuffled back to his corner.

"Yes, yes I do not doubt he more oft ends up eating the pieces", joked Belthasar. "He has the curiosity and magics of a Nu, but certainly not the intelligence or attitude. I always have wondered where our dear Spekkio is from"

"Some things even I don't know", answered Gaspar as he poured them both a glass of the wine. The bottle, older than either of the two, was magically enchanted so that it was never empty. If Gaspar wasn't so picky as to whom he'd serve the delicate wine, he'd be the richest bartender of all time. "I think he simply exists because he wants to; birthed from an unusual concept and nurtured by good humor", whimsically explained Gaspar.

"Born from irritation, more likely, and existing to plague great chess players throughout time", laughed Belthasar as Gaspar set the chess-set down and both players organized the pieces to their corresponding squares.

"Now, old friend, perhaps you'll tell me the real reason for your visit?" Belthasar asked, continuing after seeing mock surprise on Gaspar's face. "You wouldn't have brought the wine if it had been just chess you were after. I always did talk too much after a few drinks."

"You got me", sighed Gaspar; making the starting move in the game. "I was just wondering why you gave Janus his gate access back. You and I both know what happened last time, and I for one don't want to repeat it."  
Belthasar looked at the game-board deep in thought, before making his move. "It's just a test to see if we can put him back in the field", he finally replied, "I wouldn't make the same mistake twice."

"Last I remember", responded Gaspar as he quickly made up his mind and moved his piece, "You distinctively said that it'd be a cold day at Enhasa when he'd get a chance to even look at the Gate again." Gaspar drank his glass of wine and filled it again from the bottomless wine bottle. "What convinced you to give him a second chance?"

"I…had a change of heart", explained Belthasar, taking the next few moments to plan his next attack. "Looking back I can understand his actions. I myself still feel guilty about Schala's death, after all I designed the Ocean Palace. I had to keep order here, though. I want him to find other matters to occupy himself with besides going to your bar every other day and causing a scene." He moved his knight in direct range of Gaspar's rook, an obvious mistake on Belthasar's part and Gaspar, after review of the situation, decided to take it from him.  
_ This wasn't like Belthasar_, thought Gaspar_, I remember a time when we'd spend hours fighting for the lively hood of each and every piece._

"This reminds me of old times", thoughtfully said Belthasar as he stroked his beard in thought. "Remember when we used to play chess like this at the Palace. Masa and Mune running about and causing havoc as we played while Melchoir chased them", he sighed, "Always interrupting our game to ask a silly question. Those were the good grand days".

"Long in the past old friend", reminded Gaspar as he brought Gaspar into check-mate in only 4 moves. "Your mind drifts away from the game Belthasar. Don't make me say that Spekkio outlasted you."

"It's nothing just, well, my mind is occupied with thoughts of home", sighed Belthasar clearly homesick.

"Look around you", Gaspar tried to liven up the conversation. "We've got it pretty good here. Anything we desire is just a thought away", he continued.

"It is not the same Gaspar", sighed Belthasar again, "I just wish we could have saved it. Zeal was something beautiful and functional, with its' faults no doubt, but such grandeur cannot be replaced". _Or forgotten_, he said softly to himself. The aged guru gazed into one of the paintings lining his walls, a view of the continent from when he'd first flown the Blackbird, and was lost in the scene.  
_ Zeal stood out from the blanket of clouds like a diamond in the rough; alone, magnificent, and totally unexpected. Tall and pearly white towers stood over the greener lands below where exotic ferns and fauna flourished. The large, magically refilled, lake glistened in the midday sun as its' waters were drained to the earth below, falling harmlessly into the sea. Belthasar could feel the wind in his hair as the Blackbird sailed through the skies, yet another triumph over nature, and he breathed deeply of the fresh air. It refreshed him like a midday nap, energized him like a good rejuvenation spell, and awakened in him a sense of adventure._

"Let us get off this depressing subject", prodded Gaspar, snapping Belthasar from his euphoric day dream. "We've still got hours to burn and chess to play".

"I'm not much in the mood for chess tonight", Belthasar coughed and sipped at his glass of wine. "I should get back to work; I have reports to write and time to keep track of. We've had a surge in time crimes lately. There's no rest for the wicked they say".

Gaspar laughed, prepared to argue, but from the almost dreamy look on his friend's face he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere, "Well, I look forward to a better game next time".

"I deeply appreciate your visit, though, come by another night and perhaps this old man can find time to win back his chess status." Belthasar dismissed Gaspar and then settled down for a long night in front of his paintings. _There he was again, sailing above the clouds._

---\----\

The earthed carved dwelling suited Geon's need perfectly. It was away from prying eyes and busy intersection; no interruptions meant less time sent doing this menial torture assignment. Despite her thrill at hunting and killing it did become rather inconvenient to stop in the middle of a torture technique just to dispose of a peeper. Second the ground did a commendable job of soaking up the blood that eventually resulted from slowly and painfully killing a person, or a frog in this instance. Geon wasn't one to need or desire a sense of cleanliness, but pooled blood often drew scavengers, one of the few things that offended the proud hunter.  
If she had a sense of irony, Geon might have found it ironic that she was torturing Frog in what used to be his home. Now though it would serve as a painful hell, and eventual grave.  
The Amphibious knight had regained use of his limbs several hours ago as the paralysis that her venom induced had reached its' time limit. Too late for the skilled swordsman to do anything but wait and suffer. Suffering was the only thing he could do besides making an annoyance of himself.  
The aforementioned knight could be found tied proficiently on top of his own floor. For extra measure, and to fulfill the duty placed on her by Ozzie, several stakes pierced flesh and bone and nailed him further to the firm earth. Torturing wasn't her main function, but rather a skill acquired during time spent with her most current master. Frog should consider himself lucky, Ozzie was much more thorough that Geon.  
A pained gasp escaped Frog's large mouth as Geon twisted yet another steak through his body and into the warm hard earth. Despite the pain Frog had yet to beg, a slight annoyance; prey was suppose to squirm and plead when faced with death at the hunter's hand. It was just the way it was suppose to work.

"Foul fiend", painfully Frog continued his verbal accusations, "At what time shalt Magus make his visage present to gloat?" Still no answer was forthcoming from the perfect hunter as she went about making incisions along Frog's skin that would be used as openings to stick other sharp implements in his body later down the line.

"Nay, the mage would hath shown his presence by now", he continued, refusing to give into the pain that wracked his body. Geon had no way of knowing that, although it was painful, her torture was nothing compared to having your whole being shaped and mutated while you were conscious.

"Perchance you fear to provided resolve to mine questions?" Frog laughed, some blood coming up with the act and it followed the red path its' forefathers had lain down the side of his mouth.

"I fear nothing", stated Geon, "I am the hunter and you are the prey; fear is only for the prey". Frog scoffed at her statement, twitching ever so slightly as she continued making long lines in his skin with her sharp claws.

"Hence thy delay springs from ignorance", laughed Frog, the blood-loss was making him delirious, already, but Geon knew he had a long way to go before dying. "Where doth thine master cower, fiend, where is Magus?"

"I do not know", truthfully answer Geon. This was a question she had asked herself many times over the centuries. Where had her creator gone, why had he abandoned her? Was she not to help him to fulfill his dream? These were all short lived thoughts in the hunter's brain, she was meant to kill, not to think upon silly notions such as hurt and abandonment.

"Prey does not question the hunter", stated Geon as she clamped his mouth shut in preparation for the needle and thread to follow. Maybe, once his mouth was sewn shut, she could resume her duty un-interrupted. It was going to be several long days before she'd let Frog die, the slow and painful death Ozzie had requested, and Geon looked forward to it with as much enthusiasm as she did everything; None.

----/

Lana seemed to be breathing regularly, noted Janus as he ceased the casting of the last rejuvenation spell. Granted he didn't know many, healing wasn't something the dreaded warlock from the dark ages was used to doing. Still it was best to be prepared for anything, even the off chance that he somehow received injury. Now it came in handy for his current apprentice/student who was neatly laid into her make-shift sick bed, constructed of mostly blankets.  
He had placed a damp rag over her head, hoping to calm her high fever, and a large wool blanket was placed over the rest of her body. Janus had brought many things with him inside his seabag, a bag that not only floated alongside its' master but also disobeyed the laws of storage-to-size ratio, but among them had not been medical supplies. Chiding his own lack of foresight, Janus made due with what was available.  
It didn't seem like it would be enough though. He had no idea what was wrong with the strange girl, aside from the fever, nothing seemed amiss. How was he to know the cause of her sudden screaming and fits? Lana didn't have any diseases or conditions in her medical record, in fact it was a bill of perfect health, and he highly doubted that a lack of food or water would send someone into any kind of convulsions.  
Still, Janus thought, what if? What if it had been his fault; that somehow the past few days had affected her as such and now see was in a coma? What if she had strained herself using the strange talent she possessed? All because of the way he'd been treating her.  
He was half tempted to teleport them both back to the Chronopolis' sick bay; that is until he was reminded that Schala's future depended on his success. He couldn't have another failure to report. He had to succeed to get his gate access back, so, that after this training period was over he could go back to his own personal mission. Still, thought Janus again, what if?  
_ Second guessing myself isn't going to cure her ailments_, angrily said Janus to himself, banishing his own doubting thoughts to the distant recesses of his mind. M_aybe all she will need is rest. I will wait till morning; if her condition remains unchanged, then I will try some of my more…creative healings._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: It's All In Your Head

Lana awoke to the sunlight as it streamed lazily into her room, illuminating the gold weave curtains which provided only a thin see-through shield. It was another boring day, she thought, lounging in her large silk covers; they were a dark blue with more gold sewn around the edges and yet more golden threads intricately incorporated into the family crest sitting firmly in the blankets middle. The crest of the Zeal family meant many things, but to Lana it was just a burden.

She knew that, if undergoing the effort to get out of the comfy bed and look out the window, she would see the majesty of the Zeal continent laid bare. Past the evergreen and luscious land was a sea of clouds that extended well past the horizon, stretching around the entirety of the world. Not even the endless sea of clouds evoked the sense of grandeur and wonder that the floating land mass did; its' rare fauna, wondrous crystal clear lake, the palace of dreams, and the gleaming marble structures that shimmered in the sunlight. One day, Lana knew, it would all be hers to rule over. Until then, she was content to lie peacefully in bed.

The small waking prince startled Alfrador, always by his master's side, and the cat mewed in mock protest to the beginning day. Lana smiled at the small purple cat, patting in lightly on the head, and basked in the warmth of the sun combined with the feeling of the silk covers and the reassuring presence of a friend. Lana knew that eventually she'd have to rise, dress in princely garb, and stroll from her exotically decorated room. Doing the many princely things that she had to do; she'd be passed from tutor to tutor to learn about the world, its'' history, and the basic subjects of magic and science. In other words: nothing fun.

"Yesterday, the other kids laughed at me", sighed Lana to Alfrador, the small cat purred as Lana continued to pet it. "They said that I should be with the Earthbounds 'cause I can't cast magic", she continued, "You don't think I'm an Earthbound do you Alfrador?" Alfrador mewed a no, or at least that's what she inferred from the small cat, and it made her smile knowing that at least HE didn't laugh at her. "You're right Alfrador. I'll show them all some day, I'll become the best mage ever!" Lana prononuced and continued to pat the small purple cat.

A soft rapping at the door signaled the daily arrival of her older sister, Schala, come to wake the lazy prince. Lana quickly shut her eyes and pretended to be asleep, that wasn't enough to stop Schala though. She descended upon Lana in a flurry of tickles, taking Lana completely by surprise. Pillows flew, covers became tangled, and a small purple cat quickly jumped out of the way to wait for his two "crazy" masters to finish whatever crazy things that masters do.

"Get up sleepy head", commanded Schala after her she ended her tickling assault to smooth out her elegant blue and purple robe. Everything about Schala was beautiful; her long blue-dyed hair, her smiling face, an enviable hour-glass figure, and the kindness that she always radiated. "I don't wanna", argued Lana as she pulled the covers back over her, not convinced that the day had any right to start.

"Whatever shall I do with you", chided Schala as she tapped her head in mock thought. "Maybe I'll ask the palace Nu to wake you up next time, or I can even get mother to come instead", Schala laughed as Lana hid under the mass of blankets, forming a fort of silk.

"Come now Janus, up and out of bed"

Janus. The name reverberated around the room, seeming to make the world shimmer at its mere mention. Who's Janus? Lana thought to herself. The name sounded familiar, but, she couldn't quite place it. Suddenly things seemed horribly out of place; it wasn't her being chided by Schala but rather a strange boy named Janus. What was happening? Why did they take Schala away from me? The longer Lana watched Janus and Schala, the further she felt detached from the scene; more a spectator than a participant.

The smiling face of Schala, the sunlight that filtered through the room, the beautiful and soft blankets, and the exotic decor and drawers; the scene shattered in thousands of small shards, vanishing back into the memories from whence they came. Leaving Lana, alone and afraid, left to sit in bleak darkness. The small figure of a frightened and alone little girl in pink pajamas, curled up into her own body for comfort and warmth.

She could remember it all now, how she had reached out to touch Janus' aura, the memories as they attempted to erase her own, and she even remembered the lingering feeling of the soft silk sheets she'd been lying in. "That wasn't my memory", softly said Lana to herself, "It wasn't mine, it was his. I was never in Zeal, I never had a sister, I never had a cat. I was never in Zeal, I never had a sister, I never had a cat." Lana kept up her chant, if only to retain the truth she'd just realized, and it slowly faded to simply mouthing the words as time rolled on.

"It's about time", sighed a voice from the darkness, "I thought you'd never sort all that out". A small goblin, green skin, dirty overalls, and straw hat, seemed to materialize next to the small frightened girl. Lana screamed and jumped back, sinking back down into her curled form once she saw the goblin wasn't going to attack her.

"I always told em human blood diluted the species, but did they listen to me. Course not, ain't got any common sense", sighed the voice again as it gave Lana a long, hard, and discerning look over. "Well ya work with what ya have to work with I guess", the goblin commented and brushed its' hands across on one another in a "lets get down to work" fashion. Lana seemed un-phased by the goblins lets-have-at-em attitude and still mouthed her chant, a life raft in a sea of memories that might or might-not be hers.

"Oh snap outa it", scolded the small Goblin as it approached Lana, she yelped in panic and backed away while keeping her wild eyes locked on the perceived threat. "You are fine where ya are, once ya break its' hold it can't grip ya again", explained the goblin, "I guess it might help a tad for me to explain myself, though" "I'm Fnorm, kind of a guide ya could call me", smiled the Goblin in a toothy grin, pulling up on its' two overall straps in pride. Fnorm waited for Lana's introduction, but the confused girl only continued to stare. "So ya just gonna leave me in the cold, or ya gonna tell me your name?"

"My name, my name is…my name is Lana", asserted Lana loud and proud, saying it more for her own ears than Fnorm's. The declaration seemed to bring more awareness into the previously wild-eyed girl and she scanned the darkness with slightly more intelligent eyes. "Where… are we?"

"Glad ya asked, this big ol void o' blackness would be your mind. Or something like that, not too sure of the exacts myself. Kind of like your subconscious or something", Fnorm tried to explain but only made the confused girl even more so.

"Some guide you are", stated Lana and suspicion crept on her face. She'd never met a goblin before so therefore this couldn't be her own memory, "Wait a minute, are you another one of his memories?" "Bah, girl if I were a memory would I be talking to ya? True enough that in memories it seems like people are talking to ya, but if ya keep a keen mind you can tell the difference between talk and script.", laughed Fnorm.

"So how, and why, are you here?" Asked Lana; suddenly realizing that this whole time she stood just as tall as the short goblin. Looking down at her body, she realized that she looked about ten years of age, "And why do I look like a child?"

"Cause you are a child, in the talent", Fnorm tapped the side of its' rather large head, "And it's connected to what I'm doin here right now. You've neglected your ability for quite awhile young miss, and that's exactly what I'm here to discuss with ya."

-----/

"As you can see, our recon bots have been unable to locate the exact spot of occurrence." Explained Jenkins as the red dot of his laser pointer circled the entire Porre Continent and then vanished. Currently projected on the walls of the conference room was a large aerial view of the Gaurdia and Porre Continents as they appeared in the year 595 A.D. The entire assembled crowd, the Council of the Chronopolis, nodded their heads in sagely understanding. They, though, had not a clue as to why the recon bot would be unable to locate the scene of the time crime. Admitting ignorance was not something the Council as a whole was ready to show someone outside of their circle; to the station they must appear confident and all knowing. In truth, right now they were neither.

"Though it seems that something affects the sensors at about here," continued Jenkins as the display zoomed in to the large cursed woods area, "and our equipment can't discern what it means"

"What exactly do you mean by, _it affects the sensors_?" asked Evans Deffer, the stations Head of Archiving. His robe was tan edged, a reference to when archives compromised hundreds of tan folders stored in filing cabinets. It fit perfectly with his light-brown short hair and strange grey eyes. His stature was lanky and skinny much like a tall scare-crow.

"Well, we aren't sure", admitted Jenkins. "We do have a theory though. As you can see the images start to flicker at this point", he explained as the display switched to a view of the probes as they flew through the Cursed Woods to where Frog's abode lay. When the small metallic balls reached their destination, their small iris's scanned the area, and then the flickering began. "This flickering happens until they are approximately out of viewing range of this particular spot."

"Much like a bad reception would often cause flickering for the ancient televisions, I think that something is feeding visual data to the bots but are own signal is interfering with it", he explained further as the previous footage was put into slow motion. "We can barely make out something underneath it all", Jenkins paused the footage and enhanced the image on screen. In between the lines of static and normal forest foliage was a barely visible outline of a roughly humanoid shape hidden within the bushes. It blended into the forest so well that without the image enhancements, and computer outline, they wouldn't have seen it at all.

"So someone has masked their presence so that we cannot send an informed Observer team back to stop them", stated Atihai, resting her head in her small hands, "Thus catching any team sent back off guard".

"Well, that is all we've been able to uncover so far. We are still working at the problem and perhaps we can garner more information out of the bots yet", Jenkins stood at attention next to his projector and awaited further questions or orders.

"You may go now Jenkins, your information will be most helpful to us as we resolve this mystery", reassuringly ordered Belthasar as the lights to the room brightened to full glow in response to his hand gestures. Jenkins left, with a sigh of relief and wearing much more sweat than he'd entered with.

"Suggestions?" Openly asked Belthasar, spreading his arms and laying his hands openly on the table; as if inviting the suggestions to flow into his waiting and open arms. This was a sign to discuss freely, detached from the bonds of normal meetings and proper etiquette. "Send a team to recon, it appears they can scramble our bots but human eyes should be a bit harder to trick", suggest Evans, a few heads nodded in agreement.

"Look, we know that this… thing… is a grave time threat. I say we skip recon and send in an Observer team to deal with the threat immediately", said James Denthelor, head of the Operations department. His bushy grey eyebrows possessed the same color as his military fashioned hair; both complimented by his dark black eyes. James' robe was edged with a band of constantly changing colors, reflecting the many hats that he had to wear each day to ensure that the Time Operations were carried out. Everyone helped in the day to day fight to keep the past as it was, but James was the focal point where everything met.

"If we send in a recon team we risk lives and we risk damaging the situation further", he explained, "If we lose them, then the enemy knows we are onto them. Without proper intelligence I can't recommend sending in a team that is only equipped for light combat".

"Sending in an un-informed team of Observers will not only lead to deaths, but _WILL_ damage the situation further", argued Eva. "Sending anyone back at all seems to fall right into the trap laid out for us."

"Still, we can't sit back and do nothing", stated Atihai. Everyone nodded and conceded that point, but they were still at a loss of what to do. The council seemed to break off it small groups and several discussion continued at once while Belthasar listened to all of them with attentive ears.

"Let us send the restricted gate users", spoke up John, gaining the attention of everyone in the conference room. "Since we do not know the threat, and sending any team out without intelligence is suicide, let us send more expendable resources; namely the restricted gate users", explained John. Several councilors gasped, several still tried to grasp his point, and others nodded in reluctant agreement.

"I cannot believe that such a base suggestion was made, even if it was yours John", replied Eva, disbelief flooding her voice, "These are people, not resources, and I for one do not condone sending people to their deaths".

"Come now Eva, this fits in perfectly with your idea of reinforcing the ranks with restricted users. Think of this as more test subjects", smiled John, using Eva's own argument against her. "This way we don't lose Observers with full gate access and if the restricted teams complete their mission, then we can reinstate them with full privileges; thus gaining more full access users to assign students to."

"That is an effective use of personnel", agreed Atihai, gaining a baneful glare from Eva. Atihai didn't seem to notice and kept her usual all-business demeanor. This flustered the caring nurse even more.

"Can't say I care for the idea", called out Henry, speaking up for the first time. "More mistakes will be made if we send out under-trained personnel. Some of these blokes have been on the restricted list for years at a time and are a bit rusty in the field".

"I can't believe we even need to argue about this, how can we debate over sending someone to their death?" Eva questioned loudly, giving her the spotlight again.

"Everyday we send Observers to their possible deaths", solemnly stated James as the others fell silent, a reality that weigh on all of them but forgotten in the everyday hustle. "It is part of the business we run and part of our duty. Despite all the special training Observers receive and the special conditions they are granted; let us remember that they are still soldiers". He looked around with mixed emotions in his eyes. "Thus said, it is our responsibility to manage them smartly and competently. I think this idea is neither", James sighed and wiped the beading sweat off of his forehead, "Sometimes, though, we are forced to act in err of this ideal in order to accomplish the mission. Regardless of my opinion on the idea, it is feasible and sound." James stopped, frowning at his own comment, and looked to the rest of the council, "I would recommend this only as a last case scenario".

John smiled to himself, an act not un-noted by the rest of the council, and several more council members donned the painful expression that said, "I don't like what I am about to do, but I have to do it anyways". No other suggestions were made, no other alternatives seemed viable at this point, and to Eva it seemed like the council was giving up on itself. While she wasn't a commander of soldiers or a brilliant tactician, she was certain there was another way to do this.

"James, I wish to talk further with you about this" spoke up Belthasar, "For now we keep our options open, I want each of you to try and find a viable solution to this crisis. Remember the longer we forestall actions the weaker the time ripples become. For now, though, this un-official meeting is adjourned"

---/

"So, your saying that by 'touching' his wound I've gained all the memories that gave him the injury in the first place", asked Lana, sitting crossed legged as Fnorm paced back and forth in front of its' young pupil. Lana was still dressed in her childhood pink pajamas but found it refreshing that, despite her real life run in with a column of flames, she had long flowing hair here. "Yes and no", answered Fnorm, "I thinks ya only got just a wee bit, seeing as how ya said ya pulled away before it could take em all, but that's the pie of things"  
"You mean the sum of things?" Asked Lana.

"Sum, pie, whatever; never did like fruit anyways", said Fnorm off-handed, "But it also seems it broke that barrier ya put around your ability. Ya may not have noticed it but I sure have. Believe you me, I've been a callin for a long time"

"A barrier", Lana repeated to herself, imaging it looked much like the barrier Janus placed around himself. How could she be so critical of others without first considering that she'd blocked out everyone at one point as well. It seemed ages ago and was a part of her life she preferred not to be reminded of.

"Something made ya get all tense and in a fuss about your talent so ya just sealed it up, or at least the part o' it that scared ya", Fnorm explained, "Ya might have noticed that ya had to concentrate or will it too happen, doesn't work like that when its' working properly I'm afraid. You could say we are more of a slave to it than it is to us."

"What exactly is it?" Lana inquired as she discovered she could make ripples in the darkness with her fingers; soon, and with a little thought, she could even control the ripples by just thinking about it. Shortly thereafter ripples flitted about the void like fish in the sea, all shapes and sizes. Fnorm gave the small girl a gentle smack upside the head, the ripples vanishing immediately, and returned Lana's attention back to the goblin.

"Well, I'm not to sure about that myself either", chuckled Fnorm, "but I can tell ya that it's not magic, none of that hand waving and fancy lights thing. Its' more kinda like a feelin ya get, knowin things without wanting or trying to. Ya just kinda know that things are suppose to go a certain way…like ya know fate or something"

"Huh?" Lana was more confused than ever, _what was the strange goblin talking about. Know fate?_

"Eh, well you'll see eventually", spat Fnorm, its' spit seeming to fall out into forever. "Till then though I can give ya some advice if ya want, answer some questions, things around there", explained Fnorm as it stopped pacing and sat down on a cushion that seem to materialize itself beneath the goblin.

"I guess the first question I have is; who are you? I mean I know your name but… how do you know all these things?" Lana tried to create a cushion out of thin air as well, and succeed with surprising ease. All she had to do was think about wanting one, and poof, there it was.

"Bah, fool of a half-breed, haven't you been listenin to any of what I've said", Fnorm snorted. "We are two peas in a pod, two imps in a stew, comrades in arms… you get the picture. Only difference is I didn't block me talent when it first started and so I learned how to use it. Not control it mind ya, because like I said forehand you're the one on the leash"  
"As for the rest, I'm just a simple goblin livin in one o' the many cities of Median. Make bread, and pastries, and the like and sell em. Doesn't fetch me much money but I like me job", shrugged the goblin, "That's about all there is ta' tell."

"I guess that answers that", said Lana thoughtfully, "Okay, I've got another question now." "Shoot", grinned the goblin, "Makes me feel useful when I can help ya."

"Well, I heard you saying something earlier about diluting the species but I was a bit… erratic at the moment so I wasn't quite sure I heard you right. Just now though you called me a half-breed, and I'm wondering what you mean?" Lana scratched her head in thought, "I mean, what exactly would I be a half-breed of?"

"Boy oh boy, Kyma help me, your mum didn't tell you?" Fnorm asked in disbelief. "Though I imagined that since I'd lost me connection to her she must not be amongst the breathin", forlornly added the goblin.

"She died seven years ago in a fire, along with my father", explained Lana in a solemn voice. "Did my mother have the same ability?"  
"Aye she did, and I'm sorry to hear of her death. I was hoping for the best, that maybe she'd found a way to stop our talent, but seems I was hopin in vain", Fnorm frowned but quickly regained her composure, snapping Lana out of her memories with the snap of its' green fingers.

"Good thing you are already sitting down for this. Miss, your mother wasn't what most would call human"

---/

Janus glared at Lana's resting form, perhaps trying with the full power of his glower to awaken the girl from whatever ailed her. While his glare was powerful indeed, it wasn't magic, and all it accomplished was to scare away any small animals that happen to be around. Since his glaring did nothing to further her conditions Janus had to actually think of a solution instead.  
It was morning now, the dew still clung to the tents, the chirping of small birds had been present until his glare sent them away, and Lana was still in what Janus was tempted to call a coma. He'd never heard of a coma just spontaneously taking someone, but he suppose it could have been a stroke. When he'd done his a scan of her this morning, using one of the other few health related spells he knew, nothing was physically wrong with the girl.

On to Phase 2, thought Janus to himself. Using deductive reasoning, and common sense, Janus was convinced that the problem must lie within her head, more specifically her brain. Something must have triggered some part of her ability, concluded the warlock, and it is probably something that she didn't know about. Thus concluded there was but one recourse for the reluctant and aggravated magus, go inside her thoughts and pull her out kicking and screaming.

Janus didn't like this spell, never had, but over the course of his life it had come in handy during a number of occasions. For one, he didn't like wading through the filth and weakness that filled most minds, adding it on to the list of the many things the warlock hated. Two, it always made him seem the hero. Not once had he ventured in someone's head to help them, despite what they may have thought, and he did it purely for selfish reasons. This time would be no different, he tried to reassure himself.

Using his great will to grab hold of the cosmos and shape the spell, Janus chanted the phrases he'd learned from his time as Magus and used the accompanying hand gestures. Reality was ripped open, exposed full for the warlock to manipulate, and his will quickly found the properties that he needed to alter. Reality shifted, Janus closed the hole into the workings of the universe, and the spell was complete. It was a simple task for the powerful warlock. Much easier than dealing with people, he concluded.

Janus opened his eyes, expecting to be surrounded by the thoughts keeping Lana trapped in her own mind, but instead found himself face to face with someone that he'd only hoped of seeing again, a face that managed to haunt his nightmares and dreams alike. It was the face of his sister, Schala, smiling brightly over the floating magical kingdom.


	5. Chapter 5

YAY Chapter 5 is up and the plot moves forward! Not sure if anyone is still reading or not but regardless I will plow on. Again I don't own any of characters, except my own, and Square-Enix owns the rest. No purple cats or angry warlocks were hurt during the making of the story, or at least the weren't hurt too much :) On with the show!

Note: The story looks much better formatted in word and I'm not quite sure why, mayhaps someone can't elighten to me why it does not make a good transition from Word to the fanfic story format.

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Chapter 5: Let the past remain buried

Schala stood poised, overlooking the Zeal valley below, with a young Janus at her side. The wind playfully blew across the veranda of the palace, more a balcony since it sat so far above the rest of Zeal, and tugged at their blue robes and hair. The vista below was stunning as the sun began its' descent, turning the clouds an orange tint that transformed the normally white sea into an orange fire-field of multiple hues. No view in the known world could match it.

Janus, the much older and jaded version, stepped up along side his younger self and long missed sister. The two had seemed so happy back then, Janus noted. Even he was smiling, tugging at Schala's robe and asking if they could go eat. Schala smiled as well, making mock excuses to delay the hungry youth, and watch the last tendrils of orange vanish from the cloud field.

Schala; how he missed her so very much. So much that it hurt to watch the scene unfold, hurt to be reminded of something they once had, and what would never be his again. She was dead, and he'd changed too much. While he once would have marked the sunset as beautiful, he now passed over such grandeurs with a grunt and slight annoyance. The Janus that Schala had known was just as dead as she was.

At last Schala left with the smiling Janus, holding his hand, as Alfrador trailed behind, the cat's constant mewing signaling that he too agreed with the young prince's stomach. Zeal, the veranda, the clouds, the approaching night; all of it vanished into blackness. Save for the small figure of a young girl, long purple hair and long sleeved pink pajamas, who thoughtfully walked towards the warlock.

"What is this Lana?" Snarled Janus, not only at the girl but at the tumult of emotions he felt at the moment. The young girl stopped, examined the Warlock with scanning eyes, and laughed aloud. Finding mirth, in what Janus knew not.

"That explains so many things," Lana spoke just loud enough for him to hear, "I was wondering why you had blue hair in these memories but when I saw you it was brown. You should have left the hair, it's a nice color. I can see why you covered up some of your… sharper features."

Janus groaned in aggravation, of course his illusions didn't work here in her mind. Here you appeared how you subconsciously pictured yourself, and Janus wasn't surprised to see himself donned in Magus' familiar battle gear. He may go by his original given name now, but it seemed he would always be more Magus than Janus.

"Come on, you can speak up," coaxed Lana. "You've taken all this effort to get here after all." She didn't seem cocky, or playful, but was simply stating the truth. A chair immediately appeared next to the warlock, a perfect replica of the white and gold ornate chairs from the palace, and he immediately backhanded it away. The offended chair simply vanished as easily as it appeared.

"We are leaving now." commanded Janus, the ice and venom in his voice taking no hold here. This was Lana's mind, he reminded himself, and it would take a tremendous effort to force her back in a conscious state from this position. She was willful he had to admit, not like the other's he'd saved. He wouldn't be able to force her out, instead he' have to rely on his less subtle negotiation skills. Unfortunately, with Janus, most negotiations ended with someone getting Dark Matter cast on him or her.

"You didn't have to hit it you know," commented Lana in a scolding voice, "Just simply thought of another one." Lana created her own, a simple wooden rocker, and seated herself in the chair that was much too large for her small frame. "I can see why you miss her so much, your sister I mean," Lana continued after Janus showed no signs of creating a chair to his liking "She was a beautiful person, inside and out."

"That is not the topic at hand, right now we are leaving. We have much training to complete if you hope to make it as an Observer." wheedled Janus, though it was the most commanding and forceful wheedle in perhaps all of time.

"No, I waited for you so we could talk. I had a feeling that eventually you'd show up, and I was right. So now, let's talk." simply said Lana. "Living in Zeal, it seems so surreal and magical."

Janus involuntarily stiffened up, it wasn't from surprise though; just pain. Whatever ability Lana possessed was strong indeed to be able to read his mind and play old memories back. He would not be goaded into answering questions about his long lost home. Janus wasn't one to stand being manipulated, verbally or otherwise.

"Very…interesting, the ability to make me view past memories," commented Janus "Even more interesting is the fact that you can see them as well."

"It's more than that," silently spoke Lana, sorting out exactly what words to use. "I did something that, in a way, copied some of your memories into me. The scene you just saw was from my mind, not yours." Her eyes closed slightly as she recalled the scene again, this time viewing it without showing it.

"I remember how impatient we were when Schala wouldn't just leave and take us to eat and Enhasa. It was the Nu's night to cook, and only the fools missed a Nu's food, or so we told Schala. We didn't go for the Nu's food, but Masa and Mune would show up and then we'd play. They weren't like the other kids and didn't care if we could use magic or not," Lana laughed and continued before the pause could let Janus interject any thoughts. "She just laughed and said the food would be there for us when we got there because we're royalty and they'd leave it open just a little longer." Lana sighed and fully opened her eyes again "I truly envy your childhood."

"Enough of this nonsense, there is nothing to envy," angrily exclaimed Janus as he marched quickly to stand over the small girl in the chair. "You are coming with me before you speak further beyond your bounds, my past is not up for discussion." commanded Janus as he lifted Lana up by the collar of her pajamas.

"I don't remember everything though," continued Lana as if nothing was happening and manage to crane her neck to look Janus in the eyes. "Why do you hate your childhood so much, it seems so happy?"

"Then you've seen only a shadow of the whole," calmly said Janus, reeling in his anger, and slowly put Lana back in her big chair. "We are leaving and going back to the Chronopolis."

"I could simply get the rest from you right now," stated Lana, and Janus could find no hint of a threat in her voice, just calm certainty. "But I want to hear it from you. Would talking to me really hurt so much?"

"Why do you care," glared Janus. "There is nothing to tell but a story about people too blind by their own pleasure to see their imminent destruction. There is no happy childhood, no happy ending; only delusions of happiness paid for by the toil of others. The rest is pain, a tale of blood and killing." Janus stopped, shocked by his own outburst and quickly resumed his un-emotional façade. "What exactly do you hope to find in my memories, a good bed-time story?"

"I'm sure there is a connection between you, me, the black wind, and why it's blowing now. I'm not sure how, but I just know," explained Lana. "That and… because they are my memories now too." Embarrassment was written all over her face and Janus couldn't quite bring himself to say something rude at her confession, still he managed a grunt at least.

"Here just sit awhile, it won't be for too long." asked Lana as she rematerialized the assaulted seat. For a good, long, moment Lana hoped he would take it and sit down. Deeper down somewhere, she knew he wouldn't. He would knock the seat back over, and leave. Departing and running away from her, the questions, and his past. Still she had to try.

"I suggest you come back to reality," commanded Janus "Because if you do not, then you might find yourself out in the wilderness alone." With that Janus left, as Lana had predicted, though the chair HAD been spared.

Lana turned back to Fnorm who was only now appearing out of thin air beside the young girl. Fnorm had agreed that it would be best to confront Lana's teacher without having to explain the mysterious goblin. The green goblin was more accustom, it seemed, to moving around in other peoples heads and had been able to disappear easily and spy on their conversation.

"Well miss, this seems it will prove a might harder than I reckoned," shrugged the goblin. "Would he leave ya in the wild nowhere?"

"He means what he says," smiled Lana, "But it seems he does not always say what he means." Lana hoped of the rocking chair, sending it back to nothing, and bowed to Fnorm before the modest goblin could object.

"Thank you for your guidance, and for the truth about my mother. It explains some things," Lana stated thoughtfully "And gives me more questions as well. I better get going though, my teacher seems to be quite angry and I don't doubt he'd leave me here if I stayed too much longer"

"Ain't nothing youngin, just don't make yourself a stranger. I liked talkin to ya and I hate to see ya go and never know what became of me friend's half-breed of a daughter." Fnorm joked, and Lana laughed slightly.

"How will I contact you again?" Asked Lana before leaving.

"You'll know, 'member you're the one on a leash and it's held by the same hand as me own. Bound to get us together again sooner or later, eh"

---/

Zack glanced around at the other ex-Observers that had been gathered here, in Belthasar's room, and gave each a questioning eyebrow. They all shrugged, just as unsure as he was to the obvious question "What were they all doing here?" Zack hoped that soon some answers would be forthcoming, he hated waiting.

Like all the others gathered here, Zack was a time violator, but unlike everyone else here he really had no idea what he'd done. Some called in selective amnesia, others called it a blessing in disguise, but the council had called it a good reason to take away his gate access but still keep him around. Zack was thankful for the work, a poor street waif as a child, and appreciated the money and other benefits it supplied even more.

Most others donned the grey teaching robes, a few with the tan archiving robes like Zack, but none of them donned their long lost Observer badge with them. The badge was more to Zack than just a piece of rare metal, imbued with magic and technology alike; the large C with both clock hands pointing up also represented a duty to something much higher than the Chronopolis. It was a duty to Time itself.

_Yet they prevent me from doing my duty_. Zack brushed his hands through his spiky grey hair as the thought cross his mind, not shame, but he'd always felt just a little short-handed that he'd no idea what his crime was. Having no idea why his honor was revoked, the thought always brought more than just a little anger to his normally calm surface.

Several more minutes of waiting, and after several more ex-Observers piled in the room, Belthasar at last slowly strode through the large doors. That made ten time criminals and the old man of the Chronopolis himself; suffice to say Zack was just a bit puzzled. He wasn't the only one.

"You may all be wondering why I'd sent a message bot requesting your presence here." spoke Belthasar once he'd been helped to his seat by his robotic Nu, a presence that had been all but unknown until the construct had moved from its' corner. Zack remembered seeing a real life Nu once, in a mission to Zeal, and he mentally applauded Belthasar on the remarkable likeness; large round body, spindly arms, short legs, and huge face.

"Suffice to say that the Chronopolis is in need of your great expertise and skills once again," continued Belthasar. "At one point we took your gate access card away, yes to some it may seem undue, but recognize that this is a facility to uphold the law of time; The law of non-interference. Unfortunately we have those that wish to exploit time for their own selfish gains and that is why we do what we do."

"It is my pleasure to say that some of you will be given another chance at gaining your gate status back, another chance to serve the Chronopolis, but it is fraught with peril and danger," explained Belthasar as several eyes lit up, others arched their brow in interest, and still others kept their non-caring façade until they'd heard specifics. Zack smiled, glad at the slightest opportunity to get out of his boring desk job and back into the field where he felt he belonged.

"Due to the increase in time crimes, the station's personnel are being taxed beyond what they can accomplish. So now we turn to you, for help, in dealing with a particularly hideous crime. I will understand if some of you decide to turndown this offer, it will not be easy, but for those that succeed comes reinstatement." Belthasar finished and scanned his audience for their reactions. A smile, born of excitement, slowly crept onto the Guru's face; they all wore expressions that said give-me-my-chance. That chance, thought Belthasar, would be given to all of them though some would not survive to reap the benefits.

"I ask that you speak to no-one about this except for me or the operations staff when you go to receive your orders, it is still classified. Any rumors I hear of this will cancel the mission, and any further opportunities, for all of you. This is a grave threat, I say this again so you know how much this means to the station. If you are willing to carry this burden then come tonight, at 2300, to the operations sector. Bring your wit, courage, and battle hardened skills; you'll need them."

Belthasar bowed deeply to the gathered crowd, a rare honor, and the artificially created Nu ushered the group out with pleasant goodbyes. Once the room was empty, save for his Nu and himself, Belthasar let out a long sigh of relief that no questions were asked. It had been a risky move to call this meeting without further advice from the council, several were sure to find fault with his decision if it became more than the rumor he was sure it already was, and Belthasar had no time to deal with that right now. Right now he had to assemble a group that was battle proven, and loyal to only him.

He had to use the window of opportunity while it was still open. It was possible, for a while at least, that Belthasar could still play this off as further tests for ex-Observers. The council would find out eventually though, but by then it would be too late. By then Zeal would be restored to its' grandeur.

_Finally,_ Belthasar thought, _all my years of waiting have paid off._ It was becoming harder, lately, not to get lost in the past. Scenes of Zeal, of his home, of the Blackbird, of soaring above the skies; each day his desire for these increased. He had already established the Chronopolis by then though, ironically preventing himself from doing anything rash, but now he had a way around the system. He just had to act quickly and quietly.

---/

"Janus?" Asked Lana as the two continued there journey through the wilds of the bio-dome. At first Janus didn't answer, occupied by what, she didn't know, and the silence stretched further between the two.

The path Janus lead them down didn't seem to have any rhyme or reason, it seemed only to matter to him that they were moving. Fortunately they seemed to be walking into further greenery, trees could actually be spotted in the far distance, and hopefully they would get a chance to take a bath soon since there was likely to be a lake, or at least a small pond, further ahead.

The extended sojourn in her own mind had refreshed Lana and she felt alive and well; though still hungry. Everything seemed so much clearer now, she didn't even need to see aura's to know how Janus was feeling, and the world in general just seemed to make sense. It was as if someone had suddenly turned the lights to reveal the piece of the puzzle that Lana had always been missing.

It seemed to have the opposite effect on her teacher; he still looked as if he'd been on the losing end of a spell battle. Several days without proper food and water would do that to someone but it had never affected Magus, and Janus was really no different. He marched on stoically, letting sheer determination win over a lack of nutrition, and paid no attention to the growls that would periodically come from his stomach.

"What?" Janus answered at last, not trying to hide the annoyance in his voice. Lana's inquisitions continued to annoy him, as well as her new confident and certain demeanor, and he almost wished she was yelling and accusing him again. At least then he could vent his anger in a response or justify his actions with verbal debate. Now all he could do was glare, and she just smiled at him whenever he turned back to do so. Stupid girl!

"Just wondering where we are going." Lana asked. They had packed quickly and with few words exchanged between the two since they'd started, but Lana could sense the emotion turmoil that threatened to overwhelm him. A destination would be nice but she was pretty sure he had none in mind.

It was all because of what she'd done, the memories she'd made him revisit, and it hurt to know she was the reason for his pain . If only she'd stayed to collect the rest of his memories, perhaps then she could help him through whatever it was that must have been so bad. The whole morning she'd been debating whether or not to just look at Janus' past anyway, but a deeper feeling, and his self-made barrier, said that it would be better to wait until later. Lana had no desire to violate Janus personal life, but she also felt a certain right to see the rest of his memories and know the rest of the story.

"Somewhere." grunted Janus. He had no idea where they were going, at the start of the trip he had planned to test her survival skills through the various environs of the dome. Now he didn't really care. Janus just had to keep moving, anywhere would do, as long as it wasn't just sitting still. An idle mind invited past reflections, something he didn't want right now. Maybe once he was in control enough to block out the memories they would get on with her training, but now was not that time.

"It would seem so." agreed Lana. Calm understanding took the place where Janus had expected a smart-ass answer or angry rebuttal.

"What do you suppose the black wind was trying to tell us earlier," thoughtfully asked Lana after several minutes of silence. "I think it was probably something important."

"Of course it was important," scoffed Janus, "It does not matter though, we won't be getting involved."

"Of course we won't," agreed Lana, surprising Janus, but it was said in an I-know-something-you-don't tone that also irritated him. Whatever, the stupid girl could think what she wanted.

Deep down Lana did know something he didn't. Something that even she didn't understand, it was becoming clear what Fnorm had meant by knowing things without wanting to. Tonight would be the last night she would see her teacher for awhile, that much was clear to her, but how and why she didn't know. Something told her it would work out in the end.

She didn't doubt the fact, believed it with all her heart, but it was that lack of doubt that worried her. Things were becoming clearer and her choices seemed easy, but were they choices she'd made or ones that had been made for her? _Fnorm's ramblings make more sense as time goes on_, thought Lana, _maybe I am being pulled around by a leash. How can I be sure that any of my actions are my own anymore? _

That thought and any others along the same path died as more reassurance flooded into her being and she once again knew that it would work out in the end. Regardless of whose actions they were.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey ya all again. As per the title, this is Chapter 6. YAAAHHH. I've still got a backload of chapter so i can update once a week for at least a while bit longer. Hopefully you enjoy the story thus far, not sure since no one reviews but alas tiss a small problem indeed. Again I don't own any of the characters except my own(Lana, Fnorm, Zack, etc). I still hate the formating that ends up replacing my formatting in word whenever I submit a document here, tiss evil I till you! Small gripes aside, enjoy the newest chapter.

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Chapter 6: The Plot Thickens

It was the normal mid-day rush when Janus walked angrily through the swinging doors at the entrance to "The Bar at the End of Time". Patrons glared his way and thin veils of smoke obscured his view, but still the fuming warlock quickly found his intended target. Gaspar, after all, was always behind his bar and winced at the might of Janus' glare as the warlock plowed through the room.

The disheveled ex-prince of Zeal, his appearance resembling what might be left of a person after being sent through a garbage disposal, seemed in no mood to make talk. The inner fire in his eyes, born from both anger and pain, would have illuminated the bar if the lights were turned off.

"We have a problem," icily stated Janus "And you are going to help me solve it." With that the warlock snapped his fingers and Gaspar found himself floating alongside Janus. Before the confused bar-tender could comprehend the fact that Janus was back long before the month of his training was over; they were already out of the door and moving further away from his bastion of security.

Looking back and forth to one another, the patrons all agreed that perhaps it was best that Janus had taken Gaspar with him. After all, who wanted an angry emotional warlock throwing spells while you tried to drink?

Spekkio, coming in from the back entrance, was quickly elected the new bar-tender despite his protests.

---/

"Janus," called Gaspar as the two traveled quickly down the already quickly moving walkway "Mind telling me what this is about?"

Janus clenched his fists tighter, almost enough to draw blood, and his voice was full of too many emotions for Gaspar to count, but betrayal seemed the overwhelming tone. "I am only going to ask you this once," stated Janus, the two were slowly given wide berth down the walkway as other patrons noticed the odd pair. "How much do you know about the Black Wind?"

"As much as you know." responded Gaspar, Janus turned to scowl at the floating bar-tender and Gaspar made quick assurances. "I swear, no more and no less."

"Then we are both in the dark." replied Janus as his temper went from blazing to simmering. Since it seemed Gaspar wasn't hiding anything from Janus he had less reason to be outright angry, not as if that had stopped him before, but he needed to think clearly without the melodramatics. Lana could hear the black wind and time-be-damned there was someone on this station that knew why. Belthasar better have more answers than Gaspar did. The two switched walkways, now going down the operations wing, as Janus set his course for the only other Zealian guru on the station. "Me, you, and Belthasar are going to have a little chat."

"Janus, can you at lest tell me what's happened? Why are you back so soon? Where is Lana?" At the mention of Lana's name Janus simply shook his head, as if waving away a bad memory, before responding. There was something about her, something that managed to scare even Janus.

"I don't know how, but while we were in the bio-dome a gate appeared and swallowed her up." Janus simply explained as if talking about the weather.

"A gate?" Gaspar asked with disbelief, "Now that Lavos is dead the gates shouldn't exist."

"Not just any gate old man, it was red."

---/

_Someone was outside,_ Geon knew immediately as her instincts and magical senses flared when the being entered her magical perimeter. Unlike humans Geon's senses extended far into the magical plane but it was as natural to her as a human having the normal five senses. The magical web of awareness, along with her extra-sensitive normal senses, made Geon near impossible to surprise.

Frog moaned softly as Geon finished twisting his arm in a rather un-natural way, but she did not register the sound. All thoughts were discarded, pushed down by instincts, and her sense of perception seemed to flow out everywhere. Suddenly she was in the grass, in the trees, in the air; smelling the small breeze that wafted down from the bushy entrance of frog's home, feeling the vibration in the earth as her prey approached, felt it's presence in the magical web.

It was female, not quite human and not quite mystic; a half-breed. Judging by the smells she'd been without bath for several days. The tangy smell of sharpened steel indicated a blade or weapon, and, the almost non-existent vibrations signaled she was lightly armed and armored. Geon's magical web thoroughly scanned the girl for any magical property or magical items; fortunately it seemed her prey lacked both.

The target was sighted, measured, and found lacking. Nevertheless, a cruel smile crept onto the hunters face. _The hunt was on once again._

----/

"Ok Janus, mind telling us the whole story?" Gaspar asked as he still floated in the air. Belthasar sat calmly in his wooden rocker; his robotic Nu standing at his side just in case Janus' anger exploded outwards. All three were in Belthasar's room, Janus pacing about back and forth, expending his angry energy in his pacing, while Gaspar floated, confused, next to Belthasar, who was also confused.

"Yes Janus, please enlighten us as to why you are in such a foul mood." calmly said Belthasar, unafraid of the warlocks temper or glare. Janus and Belthasar didn't see eye to eye on many things, or anything, and in the early days of his recruitment they would violently argue with one another. He'd gotten use to Janus' always dark mood and his constant glares; far worse looks originated from the Queen during the last days of Zeal. "Just start from the beginning; things are always clearer when the whole picture is in view."

Janus stopped his pacing and looked to both of his long time acquaintances. He was still angry, no doubt about that, but as Magus he'd learned turned his anger from a blinding influence into something he could use to focus. Now was the time to focus. He was Janus after all, unmoving and calculating, and not weak enough to let his emotions get the better of him.

"Very well," he conceded "After I heard of my assigned student I decided to train her for a few weeks in survival skills. I took her to the bio-dome and we set off from the entrance three days ago. In addition to her survival training I also wanted to test the aura reading ability she has, I take it both of you have heard of it?"

Gaspar and Belthasar both nodded, only Belthasar spoke up "We thought it was a passive ability, not something that could be turned on and off at will, but I didn't think it merited any further inquisitions."

"Is that so?" Janus asked, "Then I take it you didn't look at her records very carefully. I have, and it leaves some questions to be answered. It has a lot of holes; no list of parents, home, ethnicity, siblings, or even an age. There are too many holes and questions for one person to have and still receive enrollment here, unless someone higher up decides to keep the information hidden." His glare landed directly on Belthasar and asked the question that he didn't verbally put forth, _"What are you hiding?"_

"It's true that I took certain precautions when she came to the station, we wanted her to fit in and not have her heritage questioned," calmly explained Belthasar "After all she comes from a mystic mother and a human father, a half-breed to put it in laymen terms."

"Why keep it a secret?" asked Gaspar.

"Ten years ago both of her parent's were killed in a house-fire; only she survived by an unknown miracle. Investigation later found that an anti-mystic group had been tipped off that Lana's mother was a mystic and so they burned down the house and the whole family with it. I didn't want violence between personnel on this station and so I've kept it a secret to protect her. If she ever discovered why her parents died it would be no end of trouble for us."

"That explains a few things but how many other things are you not telling us!" accused Janus.

"That is all I know," truthfully told Belthasar "Her ability wasn't that strange, granted I've yet to see too many aura readers, but I figured her powers would either grow as she did or stay the same. Either way we'd be there to help and learn if needed."

"I see," said Janus "Sit back and wait. Sounds very much like you." Gaspar gave a curt cough to signal the continuation of the story before yet another argument interrupted it. Janus apparently agreed and paused to gather his bearing.

"Later that night she awoke complaining about a strange feeling, as if someone was crying out to her for help. It was the same thing that I've been able to feel, the Black Wind, and outside of Zeal I've never seen anyone with the ability." further explained Janus.

"The Black Wind," reverently echoed Belthasar.

"How is that possible?" Gaspar asked.

"That is what I'd like to know," responded Janus "It seems that there is more to the Black Wind that I'd thought. In any case just this past night Lana was taken away by a red time-gate, appearing as I was coming back to the campsite from hunting. It seemed like she was expecting it and had taken some of the weapons I'd brought with us. She was standing patiently when it suddenly appeared and casually walked into it and waved to me before vanishing."

"Impossible," said Belthasar "The gates vanished when Lavos was defeated."

"I saw what I saw," growled Janus. "You don't even know what created the gates in the first place so I wouldn't go jumping to conclusions that they vanished just because Lavos is gone."

"So you think she created the gate?" Gaspar asked with a bit of skepticism in his voice. "Come now Janus, that sounds absurd."

"No, I don't think she created the gate," said Janus harshly. "I think that perhaps IT is using her to fix whatever problem caused the Black Wind."

Belthasar growled and threw his hands up in anger. "Don't go on again about your half-cocked theory of an entity causing the gates to appear. It was just a side-effect of Lavos and nothing more." harshly spoke Belthasar. "There is no god or higher being controlling the time stream and correcting what IT decides are mistakes, such an absurdity being spoken by you still surprises me. You of all people, Janus, should know the world is made by mortal choices, not the whims of a god."

"But baring that," intruded Gaspar before the two became embroiled in their passionate argument. "Perhaps there is something going on back in the past that affects the time stream in a larger way; if you've heard the black wind howl it is probably for a good reason. I've heard rumors of a very important person in history being killed and we still haven't fixed it yet. Perhaps, if it is possible, Belthasar can tell us more."

The aged guru sighed and shrugged, admitting defeat, before explaining. "A few days ago Glenn, known as Frog to you Janus, was killed by an unknown attacker five years before he is able to join with Chrono's group and ultimately throw the lot of you back in time. Suffice to say the end results are disastrous, Lavos still destroys the world in 1999 A.D, Queen Leene is never rescued thus Marle is never born and Chrono never meets her. No one ever goes forward in time to discover Lavos in the future and so Lavos wins."

"Why would someone do such a thing?" asked Gaspar. "Having the world destroyed seems bad news for humans and mystics alike."

"I don't think whoever did this planned that far ahead, or had enough knowledge to plan that far ahead. They are probably quite clueless about Lavos and the rest of the timeline actually." Belthasar explained with a humorless and serious voice.

"Frog manages to get himself killed without my help," scoffed Janus from the corner he'd taken up in the room. "As much as I dislike his company, it seems that IT has managed to drag me into helping again."

"That is out of the question, you will do nothing of the sort!" roughly commanded Belthasar. "The council will decide the course of action, not you. This station was built for things exactly like this, and we will do our job." he argued further.

"I have no doubts that Lana was taken back to the same time period, probably in an attempt to save the frog. In any case I have a student to retrieve along with a frog to save," icily stated Janus "You will find no one better for the job, and your disapproval won't stop me."

"Is that a threat?" Belthasar stammered out almost in disbelief before regaining composure. "I would certainly hope not, I do not want you as an enemy. Make no mistake; any unauthorized time travel on your part will be treated just like any other case. Neither of us wants to fight the other, so let the station handle this, and I promise that Lana will be returned just as she left."

"Hmrph," laughed Janus. "The girl is of no concern to me, but her ability on the other hand… THAT I do wish to study." Several second of silence passed while Belthasar and Gaspar awaited Janus' decision tensely. "Very well," agreed Janus "Just return to me my student."

"Excellent," clapped Belthasar "Very good decision. Is there anything else you've to tell, maybe something that might help us?"

"There's nothing more!" tersely said Janus; hiding the fact that she could copy his memories into her own, the fact that she'd seen into his most treasured of moments, and the fact that now someone else knew his true origin.

"I will return later and I expect to know of any progress," Janus informed Belthasar as he strode from the room, not even waiting for an answer. Gaspar also floated after him, waving a hurried goodbye to Belthasar as he continued to follow Janus to whatever destination was next on his list.

Neither could see Belthasar chuckle to himself at the irony of it all. Soon his team that he'd sent back would encounter Glen's killer. Now it seemed they would probably meet Lana along the way as well. If they didn't kill her then something else probably would; either way things didn't seem well for Janus' student.

"He'll forget all about it though once he sees what I've been planning," said Belthasar quietly to himself "In fact I bet he'll even want to join in. I'll give him his long awaited chance to save his sister, and at the same time save Zeal."Then he smiled and laughed aloud, delighted by his own schemes.

Unnoticed as it stumbled back to its' corner, the mechanical Nu grimaced slightly before quickly resuming an expressionless face.

----/

Zack, and his team, approaching the scene carefully, scanned the setting with their examining eyes. Blood was splattered about the small clearing and the disturbed and destroyed foliage told of a great struggle that had taken place here. The sun, as it began retreating behind the horizon, cast the scene in a yellow-orange hue. The small insects swarmed about the bushes and trees, highlighted by the sinking suns rays, and the forest seemed peaceful. _How_ _long ago had this battle taken place_, thought Zack as they sat in hiding.

Something didn't quite make sense; they were supposed to be here before the assassin so that they could prevent Glenn's death. If so, why did it look like a battle had already been fought here? Was it the assassin's blood, Glenn's blood, or the blood of a random forest creature?

It didn't matter, decided Zack, they were here to do a job not wonder it there was a job left to do. If it came to that they would tackle that bridge when it was crossed. Sometimes the time-gates at the station were less than accurate, despite the claims of one hundred percent time-date arrival, and they weren't exactly in the position to just try again. Belthasar had made it quiet clear that if they returned without success, then they'd most likely be jailed or worse. _This is a secret operation_, the aged guru had told them, _and I cannot avow knowledge of this if you should happen to be discovered. You are all on your own after this point._

He signaled two men to scout the perimeter around the frog's underground abode, using quick hand gestures, and signaled the other 3 to follow him and keep alert. Everyone moved as quiet as ghost, slipping through the bushes and leaves like phantoms, and weaving in and out of cover so they remained hard targets. All the while their forest camouflaged cloaks hid them amongst the greenery.

At last the 4 ex-Observers made it to the small bush that hid the entrance to down below. Zack signaled the group's seer, a fair skin and blonde haired lass, to attempt a scrying of the room below. A moment later she signaled an all clear, puzzling Zack even more, but he gave the countdown for the moment they would drop in.

The four exploded into action, Zack taking the lead and jumping down the small drop to come up in a roll with sword and magic at the ready. The waiting ice-bolt in his hands lit the room in an eery blue glow; moments later small red and white glows accompanied it as his comrades jumped down with spells at the ready as well. Nothing attacked the alert and battle ready group, and one by one they dropped their spells and brought torches to bear.

The remains of what looked like cruel torture devices littered the hovel, all covered with blood that was just now drying. Stakes, knives of varying lengths carved from wood, vines with thorns aplenty, and an adequate amount of red soil beneath where, Zack guessed, Glenn had been. The pain at one went through in torture was something Zack knew first hand, something always at then forefront of his mind, and the scene was eerily familiar.

Memories, pictures of much more insidious torture devices, flooded Zack's mind. Hours, days, weeks, months, or years; how long had he been trapped there? His small form begging them to stop, but they wouldn't. Over and over again saying the same thing, over and over again; until all Zack knew was what they were saying. That was his one and only truth.

Reality snapped back into place for Zack, the scene returned, with his partners examining objects and making guesses of what happened. Now was not the time to think about his nightmares, he ordered himself, now was the time to work. What work could they do though; there was nothing here except perhaps the death bed of Glenn. Since there was no body perhaps the killer had taken him somewhere, and perhaps their team could yet save history.

One of the scouts jumped down the hole, and Zack hoped that perhaps they'd found something. His hopes proved true, two paths of blood led away from the battle, but the truth was a double edged sword. Which path to take? Which path would lead them to Glenn and which would lead him to…something else.

"See if the seer can learn anything," ordered Zack since they could once again talk aloud without fear of being attacked. _If not_, he thought, _I'll just flip a coin and let luck decided._

_---/_


	7. Chapter 7

Heya again, Chapter 7 up and ready. Some people may be wondering why updates come a day earlier each week instead of on a same weekly scheduled day. Well, being in the military and all we have things called "duty days" which more or less means we are confined to the ship for the whole day and stand watches with weapons and such. my duty day comes a day earlier each week and thus I try and update before my duty as a kind of pre-duty ritual thingy. Anyway, departing from the random tid-bit of information.

On to other news. I know people come to read this story, don't think I can't view the stats page, but no-one seems to want to leave a review. I'm not going to threaten to stop the story if they don't come, i'm not here to boost my ego after all, but I really do want to know what people think of what, and how, I write. If an artist paints a horrible picture and no one tells him, then he keeps painting horrible pictures. Only through criticism, constructive mind you, can someone see the faults that they might have and yet not realize. My rant is done. You will hear no more about this the rest of the story, this I promise.

Enjoy this chapter, hopefully! Now on with the show!

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Chapter 7: The Watching Eyes

Brief glimpses of steel slicing through scales and flesh, of claws raking painfully across her back, and of tumbles, ducks, and dodges. Lana knew they were small bits and parts of a much greater battle, knew she'd been part of that battle, but found that the memories came like fragments of a dream; only the pain connected it with reality. Still though, the fact that they seemed like dreams didn't alter her current situation. Now she was stuck with a dying frogman on her back as she trudged through the dank and sweaty forest.

The driving force behind her actions released its' all encompassing grip on her, returning her free will, but only leaving her one option; to keep running. Who knew how far behind the snake woman was? Lana had no wanting to meet the quick and agile creature again, the large claw rake across her back still burned, and she did not want a matching injury down the front. It felt rather unfair that, whatever it was, it could just use her body and leave without taking any of the injuries with it.

_I have to keep control_, thought Lana to herself, _next time I might not be so fortunate to get only a scratch._ The reassuring presence felt so good though, as if it could do no wrong, but Lana begged to differ. Who knew what was controlling her, or even why? All she did know was she wanted it to stop. It was her life to control, not someone else's.

Her mind was ripped back to the present and the bleeding knight who moaned occasionally, saying something about an evil warlock. Delusions and nightmares, Lana judged. No doubt he was reliving the fateful day that his life changed forever. Remembering the last words his best friend had said to him, crying anew at the pain that tore at his insides when Magus torched Cyrus' body before the young swordsman.

Like all Observers at the Chronopolis she'd learned in great detail, bordering on anal retentiveness, the many events of history and the people that they dealt with. It took only a moment of thinking for Lana to gain her bearings and guess the approximate year she'd ended up in. Glenn and Cyrus' encounter with Magus and Ozzie on the Denadoro Mountains was not an unknown event. A battle ensued, more a slaughter than a battle, and Cyrus died while Glenn was left to live on with his curse. _Most definitely not a happy ending_, thought Lana to herself; remembering the words Janus had earlier said.

Did he think he was the only one with a sob story to tell? Lana wasn't naïve' and knew that most times in life things didn't have a happy ending. Janus treated her like she was a child though, treated everyone in that same manner, and Lana was once again rousing for an argument with the thick headed teacher. In hindsight she was again surprised at how much control the presence had over her. Not once since she'd copied his memories had the two argued.

Dusk was fast approaching, bringing with it the beginning stirrings of night creatures and other various things that lurked in the dark. Soon, Lana decided, they'd have to get to some shelter and set up a fire before the nighttime fully enveloped them and they'd stumble about blindly. Or worse, perhaps caught by the snake woman and all of Lana's efforts would be for nothing. _What effort_, laughed Lana, _it wasn't my choice to come here in the first place._

A small sliver of reassurance crept into her mind, saying that in fact she was glad to have a chance to save the valiant frog knight. Lana attempted to push it down but it didn't shrink or grow, instead remaining a small solid presence. It whispered sweet nothings into her mind, and Lana soon found herself being lead along again and liking it despite her attempts to fight.

_Her actions again became a lucid dream; the trees seemed to be made of nothing more than illusions and light, and Lana could see through everything as if it was something she could bring in and out of focus. Eyes and mouths, belonging to the various denizens of the forest, floated about like bodiless phantoms. Smiling viciously as their eyes and teeth gleamed with hunger. Their white spectral features took on a pale blue glow and vanished like chaff blowing away in the wind._

_Time and space seemed to mean nothing, at one moment she was walking through the forest and the next she was high above the sky, looking down at her own body from above. Yesterday was today and Lana was suddenly again at the campsite with Janus' small child form brooding in the corner while Zeal floated in the background. Pictures, sounds, places, people, times; passing by and merging with one another to create impossible realities. Nothing made sense but it made even more sense since it didn't._

A while later, a least before midnight she figured by the position of the moon when she finally regained her wits, Lana's trance-like state ended at the entrance to a small cave, hidden by a mass of overgrown bushes. The feeling relented, returning to Lana her sharp awareness and stinging back pain, and she once again shivered to think that it was so easy to be controlled. Still there was no choice but take the cave or risk a night in the woods, woods where who knew what lived. The cave was the better choice, she resigned.

Hacking away the offending foliage that hid the haven from view, Lana cautiously advanced; katana in one hand and her other supporting Glenn. It was small, maybe large enough to be called a spacious alcove, but it would hold the both of them. Frog was shorter than Lana but then again she wasn't exactly tall either; in truth her lithe and curvy form probably weighed less that the shorter but stockier frog. It was a miracle, and a result of constant physical training, that she had been able to carry Frog this far.

Inside was a bed of leaves, strangely already arranged and present, which served as Glenn's sick bed while Lana went out to gather a small amount of wood for a fire. Before walking even ten steps she'd tripped over enough wood to build a campfire with and after arranging the sticks and twigs into a tee-pee formation, she tossed a spark stick into the kindling, the burning stick quickly caught the kindling aflame. Luckily the small cave protected the fire from stray wind blasts and so Lana relaxed against the cave-wall, comfortably cool to the touch, and waited for the fire to reach full blaze.

First she'd have to treat the history VIP's wounds then perhaps if she still had enough energy, she find a way to treat her own. Things didn't look good for the moaning frog, various deep cuts were all along his skin, almost as many piercing and large holes were there as well, caused by stakes, and one of his arms seemed bent in a most un-natural way. Luckily Observers were also trained in field dressings and first aid with almost as much attention to detail as they'd been taught history.

Lana went to work, using the small first aid kit she'd brought from her own pack. It wasn't much but considering the advances of technology from when first aid kits had first been used, it was leaps and bounds ahead of its time. In less than an hour she'd cleaned the cuts and stake wounds and administered a form of spray on temporary skin on the cuts. Around the moist holes that leaked blood ever so slowly, she'd cleaned and disinfected, and also applied bandages with a self holding wrapping. Once it hardened the wrapping was somewhat flexible, but harder than thick, solid wood.

Then there was the arm, the worst of all the injuries, and Lana prayed that Glenn was too far under to feel the pain as she tried her best to reposition things back where they were suppose to go. Judging that the bone itself wasn't broken too much, just the muscle torn very severely, a splint was applied and held in place with more of the hardening band-aid substance. Unfortunately it also appeared to be his sword arm and Lana wondered how much it would affect his performance in his future battles. Sighing tiredly she cleaned the area around him and placed her jacket over her helpless charge.

With Glenn done it was now her turn to receive some mends. That was until something finally registered in her mind; a pile of rocks in back nock of the cave. Rocks that seemed to be covering something; pushing away the small rocks that were piled around the back revealed a small stash of berries and jerked meat preserved in small jars. _Of course_, thought Lana, _this was probably a place he could rest if he was unable to reach his house at night. Well at least something is going my way._

It wasn't a great meal, or even a good one, but it was enough to throw a few pebbles in her stomach. Too tired to even care about the vicious claw wounds on her back, and with fresh food to digest, Lana fell asleep next to the fire as it dwindled down into embers. Extinguishing at last to leave them covered in darkness once again.

---/

Geon raced through the dark woods, illuminated by the faint rays of the moon; arms dangling loosely and uselessly at her side. Her great strides took her several trees at a time, strong muscles pumping to push her light frame, and Geon's speed was easier to compare in terms to horses than humans. Creatures of the night wisely stayed away from the perfect hunter, slightly less perfect now, but still much their better.

Slashes to the tendons had doomed her arms to waste until they'd a chance to regenerate, and several even more grievous wounds still bleed. A deep gut gash and brutal back cut were the worst of them; they weren't fatal though, at least not for Geon. She was designed differently than humans and the brutal gash to her stomach wouldn't slowly kill her; besides, it would heal in a day or two anyway. The arms were by and far more important, until they healed her combat ability was 60 of what it normally was: Unsatisfactory performance.

The perfect hunter was almost ashamed to admit that she'd meet her equal, if not her better. Blending hadn't work, whenever she'd magically and naturally concealed herself, the swordswoman would somehow know she was there. Unnatural speed and agile feats had allowed Geon to score no more than one or two solid attacks. The purple haired warrior seemed to know exactly where Geon was going to attack, knew where to step and twist for evasions, and knew where to strike when the hunter's defense was down. It was maddening to think she'd been bested and forced to run from battle.

Emotions didn't cloud her thinking and Geon was already on the way to the next step in reclaiming the prey. This was not a mission for a lone wolf though, more of the pack needed to be called. It was time to go back to the place of her creation and enlist the aid that her master had once commanded. Since it was 595 A.D. Magus was still in command of great legions of mystics and was sure to help his perfect hunter. If not him then Ozzie would, of course, help to fulfill his future kin's desire.

It was a long way though; through the forest, across the vast meadows, and through the secret tunnel with deadly traps and creatures. Still Geon was undeterred. She didn't sleep, didn't need to eat or drink, and required no rest for tired muscles. After all, did a creature made of, and persisting still on, magic need anything else?

---/

Four figures waited silently around a lone candle lit table, its' solid wood surface serving as a platform to hold the single candle in a glass jar. Neither said a word, they would no open discussions until the fifth member arrived, and a stuffy silence developed while they waited. Gaspar sat next to the fifth members empty wooden seat, wearing his old brown trench-coat with boulder hat, and eyed the rest of the group assembled for their latest meeting; the meeting of the Watching Eyes.

Directly across from his seat was Eva, wearing an unnoticeable plain light-brown dress and white undershirt with her long grey strands of hair pulled back into an intricate braid, and she smiled lightly as his gaze passed over her. To her right was Henry Vose, the head of security, and even apart from any official Chronopolis functions he wore black combat boots, cameo pants, and a solid brown t-shirt. A brief nod was exchanged to the old guru when Vose noticed his examining gaze. To Eva's left was Jenkins Alloway, his bright red hair, that stuck out in all directions, directly opposing his neat and orderly business suit; he too nodded in understanding to Gaspar. All four knew that to be discovered would be the end of them.

At last the door to Gaspar's bar opened once more, the small bell dinging as it normally would for an everyday customer, and their last member watched stiffly in from the shadows to bask in the candle light. A blue Nu stiffly approached, robotic and precise movements, to stand before the assembled four. Gaspar gave him a sour look and shook his head in disgust, "Take that silly disguise off."

"Sorry about that." apologized Spekkio as the blue Nu form melted away to be replaced by a normal human male; five foot five inches with short black hair and casual jeans and t-shirt. Spekkio also took his seat and Gaspar glanced at the five of them before continuing. "What news do you have to report?"

"You were right," sadly said Spekkio "The old man's lost his marbles. Everyday he seems to get worse, just sits and stares at those paintings of Zeal when he's not working. Then he babbles to himself about his grand plan at restoring the lost kingdom."

"I was afraid of that," softly said Gaspar "Janus had told me that when they'd met Belthasar in the alternate timeline he'd become crazy and delusional from living alone all those years. Now I see it was from something else." Gaspar rubbed his head in pain that threatened to become tears. Instead he would turn it into resolve.

"What can we do?" Jenkins asked once the impact of Spekkio's statement hit home. "If he tries to save Zeal then our whole current timeline ceases to exist; zip, boom, buh-bye it's gone."

"We should tell the others," commented Vose "I'd reckon they'd have a nit to pick with that too."

"We can't," added in Eva "The station would degenerate into chaos. Once we start slinging stones we can't stop others from doing the same. It would turn into a blame game; the council would disperse into shards and take their departments with them. Then…well who knows what."

"Eva's right," acknowledged Gaspar "Any attempt to reveal this information and let the council deal with it would end up doing worse harm."

"Then what do you we do?" Jenkins asked again and rubbed his hands nervously through his hair "I figured that we were meant to watch for stuff like this and stop it, we can't just sit here and do nothing."

"We could arrange an ambush." said Vose "Take'em by surprise and end it nice and quick like." Clearly Vose was the military mind of the group, unfortunately now wasn't only a military situation. No one voiced any agreement so Vose just shrugged in resignation that, yes, perhaps his methods were a bit militant, "Whatever we end up doin will have to be real silent like, need to make sure they don't know what we do. I agree with the lady and a split council would be a might worse of a headache than when they are together."

"One moment, let us see what other information we've to discuss this meeting. Jenkins do you have any new news?" Gaspar asked the mole of the group. Eva and Vose could both be called moles as well but they rarely were inside the inner workings of the Chronopolis' operations and archiving, and Jenkins had the unique ability to dig up what went on behind closed doors.

"I confirmed that Belthasar did send a group of ex-Observers to stop the time assassin. They covered up the Gate use in the computer logs but they forgot to delete the usage logs in the Gate itself. Last night the gate was tuned to the 595 A.D. time period for quite a while and the gate tracked their ID's as they went through. I guess they simply figured turning off the ID function and access blockers would stop the computer from reading the chips anyway." A roguish smile spread across Jenkins face, clearly enjoying boasting about his skill. He may be in the archiving department now, but he hadn't always.

"What about you Eva, Vose?" Both shook their heads, no new information from either. Gaspar nodded in understanding and prepared to announce his own findings. "You all know of the time gates and the role they played in defeating Lavos?" The Watching Eyes all nodded and Gaspar continued "Lana, Janus' student, was swallowed up by a time gate while they were training in the bio-dome. Janus believes that whatever is behind the Black Wind is also behind this. I'm not sure what to believe myself but he seems to think that this entity sent Lana back to rescue Glenn."

"That's quite a story old man," said Spekkio aloud when Gaspar finished "I sense though you've got a little more." Gaspar nodded and continued, well aware of how this might sound to the rest of the group.

"Belthasar and Janus went to growling over this and in the end Janus agreed to let Belthasar rescue Lana since he seemed so adamant about it. Unfortunately I think that Lana is even more danger now that we know of the unauthorized team. What do you think Belthasar ordered them to do if anyone from the station sees them?"

"Make sure to keep it a secret," solemnly said Eva "And to treat everyone else as a threat against their mission. They're going to kill Lana if she runs into them aren't they?"

"I believe so." answered Gaspar "If she is indeed where Janus thinks she is, and I no reason to doubt his reasoning as it has seldom failed in the past, then we also need to save her as well."

"She's just one student." bluntly stated Vose, man-power figures and tactical numbers running through his head.

"Both myself and Janus feel her ability is worth studying if it has a way of interacting with whatever creates the gates," coldly stated Gaspar before his face softened again. "She is also a fellow station member and we can't abandon her just because it would take a little work."

"Maybe we should just let Janus handle that problem," said Spekkio as he twiddled his thumbs "He has a way of getting things done, his own unique destructive way, but hey, he goes with what he gots."

"Indeed," thought Gaspar "Maybe it is time to invite Janus to our little conspiracy."

----/

"Janus, are you there?" Gaspar called as he stood outside of the aforementioned warlock's quarters. Janus' had been unforthcoming in answering calls to his domain and message bots had come back empty handed. That didn't mean he wasn't home, concluded Gaspar, it just meant he didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Your incessant queries for me are becoming annoying." came a dark voice from behind the plastisteel door; a veiled promise of removal if he there was no good reason for disturbing Janus. Still the door opened a moment later to admit his annoyer and the guru/bartender cautiously entered.

The room smelt of liquor, alcohol and tears, and the room's air purifier had its' work cut out for it. Gaspar was then unsurprised to see the dreaded scourge of the dark ages slumped over a table, bottle in hand and several more on the floor, with his normally challenging gaze dulled over. Janus also reeked of the smell one obtains after going several long days without a bath and change of clothes and Gaspar shook his head in disgust.

"I see I've managed to interrupt your evening," said the bartender with little pity behind his voice. "I thought perhaps you'd want to help save your students life but it seems you'd rather drown yourself in booze instead." Janus twitched visibly at the implied insult.

"Belthasar said he'd take care of it," scoffed Janus, moving his dulled over iris's to rest on Gaspar. "Why would I care anyway? I am the great uncaring and emotionless scourge of students everywhere, isn't that what they say? Fear the mighty ex-prince of Zeal, for his gaze is mighty and visage unmoving." Janus loudly proclaimed to the world, and Gaspar, while lifting up his hands as if receiving commendations from an unseen crowd. Seconds later his form flopped back down on the table, clearly tired and worn. "What good would I be, I've already failed her twice. I can't save anyone anymore," Janus whispered softly after his previous proclamation had time to settle. Faint veins of regret laced his words and it was a thin veil to an even greater pain underneath.

"Janus I'm only going to say this once," warned Gaspar as he took the seat across the inebriated warlock. "Schala is dead; there is nothing you can do to change that. No matter how many drinks you have, no matter how many times you deny it; it won't change the facts. There is nothing anyone can do to change that." The blunt facts slapped Janus across the face like a wet fish, somewhat sobering up the warlock as his wick of anger was ignited. Gaspar wasn't done yet though

"You think you are the only person in history to lose a loved one? Wake up and smell the earthbounds! I've had it up to here with your pity party. You can either snap out of this to help us save Lana, someone who needs help here and now, or you can keep dreaming about someone that needed your help then; someone forever beyond your grasp." Gaspar grabbed the half empty bottle from Janus' hardening grip and took a swig himself. He didn't seem to notice, or care, about the furious ex-prince sitting across the table. Minutes passed before Janus reeled in his anger enough to finally speak.

"Before I end you," smoothly spoke Janus with deadly promise in his voice and all sense of alcohol gone from his actions "It seems you have something you'd like to explain to me."

"Not too much," started Gaspar "Just that Belthasar isn't planning to save Lana, quite the opposite, and I think it is quite likely that she is going to be killed instead." This seemed to dissipate Janus' anger, the guru knew it was still there but now it was directed elsewhere. Gaspar had learned long ago the easiest way to get to Janus was through his hatred and anger. "Why would he do that?" Janus asked aloud though it seemed directed more to himself; Gaspar decided to answer anyway.

"He sent out a team compromised solely of ex-Observers to stop Frog's killer. The council doesn't know about it yet so he can't risk having them discovered before they complete their mission and prove themselves. If Lana is where you say she is at, it's no wonder Gaspar insisted as he did. If you went back as well it would only compound his problem." Gaspar's lengthy explanation sounded complete to Janus, but the aged Guru knew when to withhold information and now was such a time.

"I see," was all Janus said. Gaspar knew that was all he was going to respond with and it was best to not pry in these situations. Whatever Janus was currently planning it was probably better that Gaspar knew nothing about it. Satisfied that the seed had been planted insides of the warlock's thoughts, Gaspar rose to leave. Only to be stopped mid stride by Janus' unexpected request/command.

"I will need your help for this."

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	8. Chapter 8

Another duty day another chapter. This is the last one in my backlog of chapters, might be a another week or so till another one is done and then I have to edit it and yadda yadda yadda. Won't be that long though so keep checking back every so often.

I've decided to take this opening intro to each chapter to explain a few things about the Observers' universe that may not be clear, or be said at all, in the story. The first topic will be, "Why don't they carry modern weapons likes guns and stuff?"

The reason being is that if they are constantly in the past and say, random observer 5 drops his gun and forgets it. Then some random yocale or village genius, ex Lucca, finds it and figures out how it works. Then BAAM history is all screwed up because someone got ahold of advanced technology. That and ya never know what situation you'll be in, it is better to fight with martial weapons that will be around in much higher number, in any age, than firearms. It is also, in my opinion, easier to subdue someone without dealing horrible history affecting injuries without a gun and with something like a sword or a staff. That and I can't imagine Janus with a gun :) Guns are around in the Observers universe, guards on the station carry plasma rifles, and later you might actually see some guns in use but for the most part they are just something in the background. Hopefully this was somewhat informative as I'd like to make this customary. Give you guys a deeper understanding of why things happen and how they happen. Anyway, enjoy the story!

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Chapter 8: Time's Puppet

Lana awoke to the sun streaming through the bushes that still covered their small alcove. Birds chirped happily in the background and the gentle clapping of a small trickling stream sounded somewhere close by. The smell of pine wafted through the air on a small breeze that also managed to sneak its' way into the cave, rustling the few leaves and playing with Lana's still short hair.

_This would have been a pleasant scene_, remarked Lana to herself, _after all this is the first time I've been off the Chronopolis in ten years. It's been so long that I've almost forgotten what it feels like. I've been breathing purified air for the past ten years and ironically this air feels so much cleaner_. Lana allowed herself several minutes of laziness, taking in the sounds and smells of the forest, before she rolled over onto her back and the painful wounds quickly snapped her to full alert.

Gingerly touching the wounds hurt too and her hand came away bloodless which was good because it meant the wound had stopped bleeding. What worried her though was the thought of infection to the area of her body she couldn't reach herself, hopefully she'd find someone else, local or Observer, and they'd be able to at least wash it off. She'd live for now, infection or no, and there were more important things in the short-term to worry about.

Her thoughts appeared her own for now, no sign of the controlling feeling stirred in her emotions, and Lana again made a vow to make her actions her own once more. While she could celebrate a temporary independence at the moment, the force was sure to come back and again use her for whatever goal it hoped to achieve. Lana wished she could talk to Fnorm right now and ask the questions she hadn't known to ask earlier. The goblin had left no way of contacting her again besides saying that it would eventually happen and Lana hated the thought of waiting.

She had to tear her thoughts from her own well being though and to that of her charge. Glenn seamed in no worse condition that he'd looked the previous night, nor much better either, but he seemed to be sleeping now instead of in a delirious fog. The spray skin had held through the night and nicely bonded with his own green hide, though the patches were a unique light grey color, and it seemed they would hold until his own skin naturally grew back to replace it.

Medicine and patches could only do so much for someone; they'd also need food to give the body energy enough to mend itself. Lana took the small water-skin she been carrying like a bandolier and splashed a little on the knight's face in an attempt to wake him. Eyes twitched and small slits opened up in his large and bulbous eyelids and a soft croak also managed to come with it, though soft and subdued.

"Hath death perchance found me at last", softly whispered Frog, "For surely doth angel has descended to carry mine tired form for rest." The praise made Lana smile for she doubted that after this past week she looked anything but horrible. The thought that she looked descent, much less like an angel, almost made her blush and laugh aloud.

"No one told me the great Knight Glenn was a flirt, but I am no angel. Merely tired," replied Lana as she held the water-skin up for him to see. "Before yon knight has any more cause to compliment me I must insist he drink to regain some strength", Lana found herself slipping into some of the archaic tongue and speech pattern because of Glenn's way of speaking.

Since Observers had to fit in with the populace wherever they traveled, they were taught various time lines speech patterns and inflictions. With a little more effort she could do a fine imitation of the delivery but it was such a long winded way of saying anything. She preferred a cross between the modern day speech pattern and the archaic form, more for the fun of adding flavor to her sentences than trying to fit in with the populace. Between this time period and the present day, very little had changed language wise anyhow, Frog just used this style for some reason that baffled historians and language experts alike.

"Nay, I am no knight," was all Glenn could say in retaliation before Lana hushed him with a gentle hand over his large mouth. The frog knight finished off half of the water skin before Lana pulled it away and capped it back off, again wearing it as a bandolier once more. "Now sir knight, we have an ample breakfeast of jerked meet and jarred berries", smiled Lana, "It's not exactly a banquet at the castle, but the berries are sweet and the meat filling."

"First I doth wonder what hath become of ye snake woman," asked Glenn, ignoring Lana's offer of food. "By chance hath thee defeated it?"

"Nay, I was able only to wound her and run with thine unconscious form. I think I dealt a mortal wound to the fiend and I hope that it shall bother us no more," explained Lana "And before thee ask who I am, know only that I am a messenger sent by the queen to ask your well-being and inquire when you seek to return to your position."

"Queen Leene?" Frog asked in disbelief "I am honored to retain her trust, but tiss a position I have not the honor left to fill."

"The queen said you'd say such things and I was instructed to leave it as is," sighed Lana "Until the time you are fit again though, you'll be under my care. I have a feeling more things lurk about after your life than just the one."

"I am all the more honored then," croaked Glenn "For thee company is most reassuring and yon sword seems fine steel."

"Now you seek to flirt through my sword do thee," laughed Lana "It is just like many others so no use trying to compliment its' average craftsman ship."

"Nay, tiss not the build of the sword I compliment but that fact that once it hath saved mine life. I owe as much to your skill as well, maiden, and hope that neither need be brought to bear in my stead again."

"Now you assume things yon knight," slyly said Lana, "What makes thee think I am a maiden." Glenn blushed slightly, not enough blood to make it the bright red that would have normally shown on his green skin, and coughed in embarrassment. "Well fought mi lady," he compliment as Lana chuckled aloud.

"No need for titles, Lana will do fine," corrected Lana. "Now sir knight, lets see what we can do about breakfeast. Or is the meager feast not up to your knightly standards?" A raised eyebrow from Lana accompanied her statement and Glenn softly chuckled despite himself.

Lana served Glenn some of the preserved berries, one at a time, and small chunks of the jerked meat. He seemed to have no problem handling the small loads of food and Lana was glad that he was well enough to eat anything at all. Next she uncorked her water-skin and slowly emptied some of its' cool contents into Glenn's mouth. The cool water seemed to help more than the food had. Lana decided it was probably time to give him a small rest before she feed or watered the injured knight anymore.

"May I compliment sir knight in his foresight to store rations and bed elsewhere than your house. Handy that I happened upon one." complimented Lana, trying to take the frog knight's mind off of the fact that at the moment he was quite dependant on her.

"I wish to be the one to have such foresight but nay, I have no such campsites prepared," explained Glenn as he moved his bulbous eyes as much as possible to get a good look at the small alcove. "Homely cave" he commented.

"Thanks." responded a voice from the behind the bushes outside, surprising both Lana and Glenn.

----/

"I regret this already," groaned Janus. He was back at the "Bar at the End of Time", and after a long night of explaining, from both him and the Watching Eyes, they'd finally decided on a plan. Really they'd just nodded as Janus had talked, adding a few thoughts, but that was as good as agreeing to it as far as he was concerned. _Besides_, he sneered to himself, _they probably don't have any better ideas. If they did, they wouldn't have revealed themselves to me._

The Watching Eyes, a secret group that monitored all the activity in the Chronopolis to make sure it stayed true to its' original goal. Janus wasn't surprised that there was a secret group that spied on the main controlling force, their always was after all, but he was unsure if either group really knew what was best for the time line. _It's all about whose perspective you view it from_, he reminded himself, _there really is no 'best' path for it to take_. That didn't mean he would sit here and do nothing, Lana was in trouble and if she died so did any chance at finding a way to cheat the system and save his sister.

Eva, Jenkins, and Vose had left shortly after midnight to arrange for the events to fall into place. The end result of Janus scheming was to get him to the same time period where he assumed Lana had gone. If he was wrong, and he highly doubted he was, then it wouldn't matter because he didn't plan on getting caught. In fact they could use this plan as many times as necessary until they found Lana.

The back doors opened and Spekkio bounced happily through the bar and hopped to sit on the stool next to the almost-always brooding warlock. Spekkio, once again in his white fur-ball form, had a mischievous grin that stretch from ear to ear. "Ahh come on Janus, it'll be fun." Spekkio said as he grinned further. "I highly doubt that." countered the grumpy warlock.

Gaspar walked out from the back room seconds later, wiping dirt off his hands and onto his apron, and sighed as he caught Janus' glare battling Spekkio's grin_. It could last all day_, thought Gaspar to himself. Instead of further incurring Janus' ire he slapped Spekkio across the backside of his head, ruining the contest and turning the grin into a frown.

"What was that for?" Spekkio asked in a hurt voice, not hurtful enough to fool Gaspar.

"Some of us have to work for a living, and the bar opens in less than an hour so you two need to hurry up." ordered Gaspar as he went to arranging glasses and bottles. Janus groaned, "Just get on with it fur-ball."

"My pleasure." slyly said Spekkio as he began to change his shape and size in accordance with Janus' plan. His form grew in height, shrank in width, and a clearly female outline soon formed. Seconds later a perfect replica of Lana was sitting in the fur-balls place and Janus had to admit that Spekkio was good at what he did. The long purple hair, a very curvy figure that most would call sexy, and the slight smirk that seemed to always play along her lips. Since Spekkio hadn't know Lana's measurements it was mostly guess work combined with memory, but Janus' judging look-over proved that the shape-shifter had done a good enough job to satisfy the warlock.

"Just one thing," commented Janus it all seriousness "Clothes." Lana's resemblance blushed and her form quickly changed again, this time with Lana's last battle outfit that she'd been wearing, long and lose black shorts and form hugging tank top. Obviously Spekkio also remember the hair because the previously flowing purple hair now ended just above the ears. Janus once again circled Spekkio, using his examining eyes, and nodded in affirmation. "Can you duplicate the voice?" he asked.

"Can I duplicate the voice?" Spekkio responded in a perfect imitation of Janus' brooding voice. "Of course I can." this time it was Lana's sweet voice that answered back, just a bit higher than Janus' had ever heard. "It's a little high pitched", the warlock commented. "Eh, sometimes it takes a few minutes to do a new voice," shrugged Spekkio, this time it sounded more like real thing.

Janus shook his head to dispel the shudders he was suppressing, Spekkio was too good at this, and the warlock waited till he was composed to speak again. "It will suffice," he agreed "Remember the cover story; I am taking you to the time period 500 A.D. to train you in the use of cover identities in case you need them. No matter what the gate operators' do, when we step through the gate Jenkins has arranged for it to take us to the exact day of Frog's attack," Janus explained and Spekkio nodded in bored understanding. "Don't say anything more than you have to, don't do anything stupid, just follow me and act like a student." commanded Janus with a harsh glare and measured words.

"No problem," said Spekkio, giving Janus a thumbs-up "I see students everyday, can't be that hard to imitate one." The warlock only groaned into his hands, muffling what would have been a loud roar compared to most groans, and looked once more to Spekkio wearing Lana's form and clothes. "I imagine you think along the same lines." he commented while watching Spekkio creating other "rad" hand symbols.

Gaspar ushered them both out of the Bar and then promptly closed the door and re-hung the "Closed" sign. It was just a little before lunch, the walkways still mostly unpopulated since jobs had to be done and people had to be doing them. Most importantly it seemed no one recognized, or paid any attention to, the odd pair as they exited the bar and boarded a walkway.

"By the way, you smell a bit rank," commented Spekkio for the first time, even though they'd been in the same room for hours on end, and for a brief second Janus almost forgot it was the shape-shifter and not Lana. She'd have commented on it if she were here, probably with more vulgar or exaggerating terms, but it was eerie and Janus wondered if the shape changing did more than just change appearances. Those thoughts were for his private contemplation however and he responded simply with a "Shut up".

The walkway curved this way and that, running parallel and crossing similarly curving walkways. They also passed people that gave the stinky and dirty warlock a brief glance but paid the patient student next to him no mind. Janus returned their glances with glares and Spekkio smiled to everyone, reveling in his part of the plan and the opportunity to annoy the ex-prince. In mere minutes the walkway passed by their destination and the two quickly stepped off to find themselves standing in front of the Gate doorway.

A single guard stood in front of the normal looking double doors, at attention and alert, and this was where the first step came into play. Originally he'd considered simply blasting the guard away when no one was looking but Vose had offered another solution. Being the head of security meant he could change anyone's access with a few key presses in a computer and reluctantly he agreed to do the same for Janus. Originally he was required to have two guards escorting them when Janus took Lana back in time for training. Now thanks to Vose they wouldn't require any. If it worked, the guard would scan his ID and let them both pass.

Janus confidently approached the guard that wore a tactical combat suit made of a material Janus couldn't recognize. _Probably enchanted Kevlar_, he thought, _and it's most likely highly magic resistant._ The black haired crew cut guard held out the scanner for Janus to pass his hand over, it beeped once it had scanned the small ID chip implanted in his hand. The guard looked at the screen with keen eyes, reading it thoroughly, and nodded to Janus that he was accepted and allowed to enter.

The guard almost stopped Spekkio as he attempted to pass with Janus but the guard recognized a student when he saw one. Even if he scanned her she wouldn't have access because she was just a student, not a full fledged Observer yet. Spekkio smiled, it came across much more pleasing on Lana's face, and asked, "Do you need to scan me?"

The guard smiled back and shook his head, "No, he's authorized one student to travel with him for training. You can go ahead miss." Spekkio thanked the guard and caught up to Janus, who'd failed to wait, and fell into step behind him as they entered the double doors. Before entering the main chamber they needed to go through a clean room, the process of being scanned took several minutes while pressured air blew at them from all directions. Once cleared the doors opened and allowed them entrance.

Janus paused as he walked into the room and memories of his last visit here replayed themselves in his eyes.

_There had been fire everywhere, mostly his doing of course, and though many Observers lay groaning on the floor none were actually dead. They'd tried to stop him, weaklings, and he remembered the self-fulfilling sense of accomplishment he felt when at last he'd walked through the glowing cortex of the Gate._

_It had been a fool proof plan, he mused, and there had been no way that it could fail. How things had gone wrong, how his perfect plan had crumbled right before his eyes. It was almost maddening to know he had been so close and yet he had never really gained any distance._

Looking around now, it seemed everything had been fixed over the last 8 years, shinny parts all around, and the gate entrance itself was now guarded by a fully armed team of Observers. The gate itself was the same, simply a large metallic ring; coils of wire lining the innards and a score of computer terminals were arranged around the gate like it was at center of a stadium. Everything looked down on the Gate from seats that gradually became higher and higher. Operators typed hurriedly on keyboards, numbers and figures were called out across the room back and forth and more typing ensued.

He couldn't just stand around forever he reminded himself, and if he did it would look awfully suspicious. Quickly he spotted the receptionist, sitting directly in front of the entrance and approached with utter confidence in his plan. She was a red-head, long and put into a pony-tail, with freckles everywhere and wore the obscenely bright blue robe that was meant to help people spot a receptionist in the most crowded of rooms. Her manner was curt and business-like when handling Janus and Spekkio, "All Time Periods Past 595 A.D. are currently blocked due to timeline instability. Any business before that period?"

"Student training in the time period 500 A.D." stated Janus just as curtly "Month and day don't matter, anything will work."

"Scan Please," asked the receptionist as a panel opened up in the desk directly in front of Janus, a blue pulsing flat surface signaled where he was to swipe his hand over. Seconds later, after swiping, the receptionist looked at Spekkio then back to the computer screen. "Your student I assume?"

Janus nodded and moved out of the way so Spekkio could approach the scanner as well. This was phase two of the plan: The medical department was in-charge of inserting the ID chips in the palms of all staff and students. Eva had inserted a copy of Lana's into Spekkio's hand but modified it so that it responded at a different power level than Spekkio's original ID chip. This was crucial because portable scanners, like the one guards used, had a lower power output. Lana's ID chip was designed to respond to the higher output that was produced only by the large panel scanners hooked to stationary units and computers. Thus Spekkio could still use both ID chips and they wouldn't interfere with eachother.

It seemed to check out because she waved them both ahead, informing them that a Gate would be made ready soon for their travel. Descending the stairs to the Gate, Janus caught the amazed looks some sent him. No one would have ever expected that Janus Zeal, the crazy Observer hell bent on saving his sister, would step foot inside this room again. Apparently they were wrong though, and one by one they grudgingly dragged their eyes from the impossible and went back to focusing on their jobs.

Finally, after a decently long descent, they reached the waiting platform for the Gate. Simply put it was a 5 by 5 square that was a different color than the rest of the floor tiles. It had no sensors, functions or abilities beyond standing out from the rest of the floor and providing a place to corral waiting Observers and keep them out of the staff's way.

"Began charging sequence!" yelled one voice from directly behind Janus and Spekkio. A slight hum emitted from the Gate, also enveloping it in a light blue field, and the hum increased in volume as the charging continued.

"Located Space Time Coordinates!" yelled another, the gate still hummed increasingly loud.

"Building wormhole!" yelled another "Wormhole complete, stable and waiting."

"Connecting to wormhole!" yelled another as the metallic ring was filled with a wall of blue energy that receded seconds later to show a long tunnel of energy with walls made of shifting colors and shapes. "Accuracy calculated, 98, passes standards. Ready and waiting for occupants."

"Well here goes nothing." said Spekkio, looking to Janus. "No," corrected the serious warlock "here goes everything". With that Janus walked into the flowing wormhole, Spekkio following behind, off to save history and his student.

To everyone else it looked like a teacher taking his student for field training. How very wrong they were.

---/

"Shit!" thought Jenkins as he watched Spekkio and Janus vanish into Gate. It had all gone according to plan, all except the last part. Jenkins prided himself on being the best hacker on the Chronopolis, nay the world, but he'd meet something even he'd been unable to correct. Janus was going to be a bit surprise when he got to 595 A.D. and Glenn was already dead.

For some reason the gate couldn't create a wormhole lock with the first few days before or after the incident. That shouldn't be possible, thought Jenkins, I've never had a wormhole connection refused before; NEVER. Fortunately he was able to cope with reality and had quickly routed them to the closest date that would allow him to establish a lock. Unfortunately it was also after the incident; definitely not good.

He quickly checked his exit route, a walkway that ran along the outer wall until it reached the entrance he'd come through. Who knew how long it would take before they discovered the mix up, hopefully never, but dumb luck did happen. A few screw twists later and the computer panel he had been hacking through was reattached and with that his job was finished. Now it was time to make a clean exit and inform the rest of the group what had happened. No one saw Jenkins walk out of the entrance, only a computer techie there to fix a fried circuit board that had been reported.

--/

A ragged figure stepped out from the bushes as Lana and Glenn turned to find the source of the surprising comment. He was skinny and lanky fellow, clothes too large and excessively baggy, and his ragged beard and hair said he'd mostly like spent far too much time away from civilization; In other words a harmless hermit. The rusty sword at his hip said otherwise though, as did the wild look in his eyes and iron grip his right hand had over the hilt.

"I was going to just let you use my little campsite and then leave, but I just can't now," accusingly said the voice. "I can't let you go back to the queen and tell her where I'm at; I don't want to fight in this pointless war anymore. I just wanted to live here in peace but you had to come and try to bring me back." With his explanation out, steel was drawn and he advanced purposely toward the two.

Lana cautiously rose to stand her full four feet and eleven inches before addressing the ex-soldier. His wild eyes told her that he probably wasn't going to listen to reason; there was a reason he was a hermit living in the cursed woods and it probably wasn't because he was sane. His aura told the same story, shades of all colors swirled about and erratic spikes rose and fell.

"Sir we mean no trouble, let us just pack and we'll be gone before you knew we were even here. No blood needs to be shed." Lana called out across the remaining twenty feet of clearing between them.

"Sure you would," agreed the knight "you'd run off and tell them all I'm here. They'd come for me, find me, and make me fight again."

"Nay, we wouldn't whisper a word. I swear." pleaded Frog "Myself and the lass are just passing through." The man paused and amusement lit his wild face, a scary sort of amusement not seen on any sane man.

"That's what they all said but I know better. I've killed them all because they wanted to take me back." laughed the man. At that moment Lana knew it was pointless to further talk to him. It was also at that exact moment that she felt the presence again. It flared into existence and whipped away all other thoughts except to defend Glenn. He couldn't be killed, not now before he'd played his part in history. The hermit had to die to preserve the greater good.

The crazy eyed ex-soldier seemed to sense something as well because the amusement drained from his face and he ran full out. The rusty blade left the scabbard and he hefted it over his head in preparation for a powerful downward swing. This was all distant to Lana, a dream where everything moved in slow motion. Faintly she could hear Glenn yelling warnings to her, saw the blade as it descended in an arc towards her, but it didn't register in her mind. Everything fell into place and made sense once more.

In one fast motion Lana pulled her katana from the sheath that sat next to their packs and deftly deflected his downward slash off to the left and away from both of them. In another lightning fast motion she slid the rusted blade off of her own and continued on to leave a large gash across the man's chest. It was a complete surprise to the hermit and he fell back from the blow, amazement and disbelief written across his face. Lana simply stepped forward and slashed again at the back peddling hermit, this time across the throat, and he fell, gasping and convulsing, to the ground.

The presence left again, leaving as quickly as it had come, and Lana at once understood what had happened. She killed a man. Not a man that could have killed her, his fighting had been slow and sloppy, and she could have easily avoided his pointless death. But instead she'd killed a man. _No_, thought Lana, _IT killed him_. Still, his blood stained the earth, his life was forever gone, and it wasn't even necessary.

"Lana?" Inquired Glenn when the swordswoman continued to stand and stare at the man's dead body. "Tiss a sad fate but his wits were rent long ago," assured the knight, "T'was nothing else to be done." Lana realized that Glenn had been through countless battles, battles with other humans trying to kill you, and to him she must seem silly grieving over the loss of a crazy hermit.

"I didn't have to kill him," voiced Lana, dropping the archaic tongue. "I didn't want to kill him." It seemed a hollow admittance, after all he was still dead, but it solidified Lana's goal once more. To be free of this controlling force, whatever it was.

"Seems we all have to do things we don't want to…" sighed Lana reluctantly, remembering Fnorm's words, and turned back to face Glenn. "He may have tried to kill us, but let's at least give him a proper burial." The knight nodded in understanding, or tried to, and waited patiently and silently while Lana went about the task.


	9. Chapter 9

Hello Again folks. This chapter was done and ready to go and I hadn't even realized it! This actually is the last chapter of the back load that I had so, as I said before, it may be a bit longer before another chapter is put up. The topic this update the topic I'll expound upon is the bio-dome of the Chronopolis.

In short it is just like the bio-dome in that movie, Bio Dome, but on a much MUCH larger scale. Inside creatures and fauna populate the wild open expanses and each particular region is environmentally controlled to produce wheather in approximation of what it would be like on earth. Many facilities outside the dome provide equipment, for free, to all staff and students to enjoy many sports and activities in the wild; things like climbing gear, bicycles, kayak's, gliders, etc etc. Even though everything there is calculated down to a tee, people can still, and do, die from wild beast attacks and some of the extreme environments. It is also often used as a place for training and many teachers will often test their students in the more controlled enivornment before sending them to the real deal. There aren't oceans in the dome, just very very large lakes, and the polar caps aren't all that large either. Besides that though, it is for an purposes just a small earth, well you can't walk around the whole thing since it is enclosed in a forcefield but oh well.

Hopefully that was somewhat informative! Enjoy the story!

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Chapter 9: Slurp!

A cool dark feeling spread across Janus' entire being as he entered the time portal, a familiar and strangely comforting sensation. There was no following brief hot flash that accompanied exiting the wormhole and Janus, now just realizing he'd closed his eyes, chanced a peak and was surprised to find himself surrounded by the shifting colors again. Time, in all its' abstract and shapeless forms, was flowing all around him live a lava lamp.

"Janus?" A child's voice asked from behind the confused warlock, though not just any voice. It belonged to Lana, he knew this without even needing to turn around to affirm this, and it was the voice of her younger self image. Why she was here though, and why as her self image, was the question that really needed to be answered.

Forgoing questions and instead surveying his surroundings, he swept his calculating gaze around the area, noting the blobs of color. They were everywhere, the floor, the sky, and the unending horizon; they were also, he noted in surprise, a crimson red that he'd only seen two times before. The first had been with Lucca, the second, just recently, with Lana. Chancing a glance at Lana, affirming that indeed it was her younger self-image, she also appeared to examine the odd scenery.

"Where are we?" Lana asked, of course totally inexperience with time portals, and Janus debated telling her the truth or ignoring the question entirely. That, he noted, would only make things more difficult. She had a knack for wanting to uncover the truth.

"A time portal, or so I guess, but the real question is how we are here." explained Janus, at last turning fully around to face Lana. He carried the dangerous guise of Magus in his worn leather breastplate, dark leather pants, menacing scythe, and his pointed canine's that, many thought, made him look more like a vampire, especially when matched with his pale skin.

"How so?" Lana asked as she walked about the area with the pulsing and moving red blobs moving beneath her feet. Her footsteps carried no sound, nor did any attempt at producing sounds, and an eerie wind seemed to howl in the background.

"As you should know from class, Time portals are wormholes that link two points in space and time together so that we may, as it is primitively put, travel through time," explained Janus "Once a object enters one side of the wormhole it is propelled instantly to the other side, that being the common's man explanation. It appears we are currently in lingo, stuck between two points of space and time, and somehow you've managed to project yourself into this wormhole. Most interesting."

"If you are stuck in a time portal, then where were you going?" Lana asked the obvious question as Janus mused over the latest happenings in his head.

"Coming to save you and the frog of course." responded Janus in a duh kind of manner as if it were the stupidest question anyone could ever ask.

"Speaking of which," Janus directed is gaze towards the mage-hunter "You've much explaining to do. I suggest you begin with how YOU created a time portal."

"I really don't know," sadly said Lana, her curious gazing turned into a thoughtful frown "Something just takes control of me and…uses me to do things. I'm not sure how else I can put it."

"How long has this been happening?" Janus asked, mentally taking notes and compiling data.

"It just started happening after I copied some of your memories. At the time I was just trying to figure you out, ya know, get a good bearing on why you were so upset and angry all the time." Lana motioned with her hands and pointed to her head "Figure out what was up here. But I broke some kind of self placed barrier that I didn't know about, and that's when IT started…," trailed off Lana.

"Using you," Janus finished the sentence and Lana nodded a small, sad, nod in response. "Interesting." commented Janus for the second time in the past ten minutes.

"It made me kill someone," Lana admitted. Janus failed to react as she imagined someone would, though perfectly natural coming from the warlock, and he simply shrugged "People die daily."

"But..," started Lana before being cut off by the warlock "Anything else to report, what of the frog and his attacker."

"I managed to fight off some kind of snake monster/woman thing that attacked him. I carried him further into the forest, but I'm not sure where we are at, I was under ITS' control most of the time. I only remember brief flashes of the fight so I'm not too sure if the monster is dead or not either." reported Lana, brining with it the familiar student-teacher role that was comforting to her at the moment.

"Very well," curtly nodded Janus as he absorbed the information. Something about her explanation seemed familiar, especially the part about being controlled, and he struggled to remember where it was from. It was frustrating for the steely mind Janus not being able to find the memory. Frustrated or not, he still couldn't recall why it was familiar and decided he'd think on it later.

"I think it has something to do with the black wind," Lana said, interrupting his inner decision making "You probably have a barrier over yours as well."

"We will see," Janus sagely brushed her worries aside "As for now, remain where you are and wait for my arrival. Don't light any signals, I'll find you my own way, and doing so would only endanger yourselves. Despite my misgivings with the frog I don't want to see him dead. Don't disappoint me."

"Ok," said Lana "As you command great mighty teacher Janus, your wish is my command." Her interjected humor seemed to lift her spirits slightly, the small frown turning upside down, and Janus sneered in what could have passed as a predatory smile.

"I can sense it is about to take us away," said Lana, receiving another questioning eyebrow from Janus but not a verbal add-on "I don't know how either but it seems that whatever purpose I was brought here for is complete and it's getting ready to end our connection."

"Remember, wait for my arrival and do not….." the rest was lost to Lana as the shifting background, and Janus, were pulled quickly away, at speeds exceeding anything she'd ever seen, and her projection was pushed back through time and space to slam forcefully back into her body.

----/

The forest snapped back into reality, and the stone she'd been carrying slipped from her hand to land roughly on her foot, further waking Lana from the vision. It seemed like at least five minutes had been spent with Janus but it appeared to have been only a few second judging from her position. That fact didn't make her foot feel any better and Lana roughly hoisted the last large rock up again and added the final touch to the hermit's grave.

With her foot threatening to rebel if she didn't sit down again, she hobbled back to the small alcove and sat next to Glenn's lying form. His eyes followed her the whole way and once she was seated he felt it was time to say something. "Tiss a nice grave." he complimented. "I hope so," sighed Lana "because he hadn't deserved to die."

It resembled more a large pile of rocks than a grave but it was better than nothing. His rusty sword, its' scabbard fashioned with the Guardia Coat of arms, had been plunged into the ground at the head of the grave as the only type of tombstone on hand. The only reminder than he'd been killed here was the dried puddle of blood sitting further out in the clearing, only a few feet away from the caves entrance, but even further away from the rocky grave.

"Thine energy seems sapped, mayhap you've thought of rest?" Glenn questioned with a plan evident in his eyes. Lana was too tired to catch on and sighed tiredly again.

"I don't think I could sleep, my back hurts like hell and now my foot's squished", Lana exaggerated a bit, but Glenn wasn't about to tell her that. Instead he seemed to think for a moment before hesitantly asking "Thine back injury, may I see it?"

Feeling no need in particular not to show it to Glenn, Lana turned around and pulled her jacket down partially to reveal the five gash lines that ran down her whole back, luckily missing her spine, but they were all deep none the less. Glenn, a veteran of many battles, grimaced slightly and made a small croaking sound. If left untreated it was likely to become infected and probably fatal.

"I…mayhap… I …possess a means to …in a fashion…prevent infection" stammered Glenn, his bulbous eyes pointedly looking away as if to diminish the embarrassment. "How?" Lana asked, unsure of why Glenn would be so uncomfortable bring it up.

"This forms…its' saliva doth possess some…property… which appears to prevent infections… and numbs the pain of a wound" explained Glenn as his eyes still roamed, desperate to find something else to look at.

"Are you serious?" Lana almost deadpanned but remembered that Glenn wouldn't have suggested something like this if he didn't know it worked. He was still a knight after all and was only looking out for her health, but still_. He's saying he needs to spit on me. _

"My apologies, I had not meant to cause offense." Glenn quickly took the escape route and was clearly embarrassed that he'd even brought it up in the first place.

"No, your right," sighed Lana, she could recall several references where frogs had been used for medical purpose, some even received a euphoric experience from licking certain frogs, or so they claimed, before dying soon afterwards. Who was she to say that Glenn hadn't been changed into a type of frog whose saliva killed bacteria and could numb wounds? Who knew how far away Janus was, only time could tell she jokingly thought, but she had to be prepared for an indefinite wait.

"Just…don't tell anyone," grimaced Lana "I'd rather live and get spit on than die stubbornly." Lana turned her back to the wounded knight and peeled away the shirt that still stuck to the bloody edges of the wound, and at the same time draped the extra material over her front to maintain at least some modesty.

"Tiss not spit," argued Glenn "My form doth be a Frog hence I slurp instead. Shalt nary be more than a moment. My body, worn as it is, still possesses a functional tongue." Lana could hear Glenn make a croaking sound, similar to what she'd heard many frogs make second before snatching a fly out of the air, and brief pictures of Glenn eating Lana like a small fly danced through her head. They were short lived and pushed promptly away; he was a knight and a kind hearted individual, not a monster like some people thought.

Glenn croaked once more and then Lana felt a hard slap across her back, yelping a bit in response, but soon a cool wet feeling spread across her wounds. Immediately, or so it seemed, her back did numb and the constant pain that had been with her since the battle became a dull ache that barely registered in her mind. It felt good, that was until she remembered that there was someone's saliva on her back and she had to suppress a shuddered or risk offending the helpful knight.

"Tiss finished," Glenn said, a bit more tired that before, and his voice sounded drier. "I am spent mi'lady, thus I retire" he mumbled before Lana turned around to find the knight already asleep or unconscious. Either would do him good, he needed rest.

Not really wanting to put her shirt back over the saliva that was on her back, not even wanting to think about it, Lana instead leaned forward to rest her head between her legs while draping her arms over her knees. It was as good as any position to rest for a bit. Rest didn't come and Lana couldn't help but think of the dead hermit buried just outside the cave.

Lana wasn't weak stomached, had seen dead bodies before, mainly her parents, and wasn't light hearted when it came to disgusting images. This was different, this time she'd killed someone for no reason; sure he wanted to kill both of them but Lana's skill with a blade would have made for a quick and deathless battle. She wanted to shed tears over the reckless blood shed, wanted to mourn for the crazed man, but found no tears willing to come forth and her emotions as numb as her back. Thinking about it made Lana feel hollow, almost what she imagined Janus felt like most of the time.

The feeling came back again, sitting quietly in the corner of her mind but Lana saw it for what it was. It was here to assure her the hermit's death had been necessary, that in the grander scheme of things she was doing what was needed. Lana refused to give into the feeling, refused to find comfort in its' open arms. Gathering all the anger and hate from her parents' death, the following lonely years on the Chronopolis without friends; Lana unleashed it all. _I won't let you kill anyone else through me_, she gritted her teeth, _I won't let you use me anymore._

Unfortunately IT had other ideas and Lana felt her hate and anger diminish, and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew failure. It wrapped itself around her like a web of safety and security, promising only good things, and Lana again felt the world snap back into clarity and wondered why she'd been fighting against it in the first place. Then, all went black.

---/

Zack's squad stopped as they reached the large rocky mountain, the assassins trail stopping dead in front of the large and foreboding peaks. The tracker amongst them examined the ground and nodded his head in affirmation; yes the assassin had escaped into the secret tunnel leading to Magus' lair. The seer behind Zack nodded as well when she opened her eyes and ended her seeing spell.

_Good, we are still on the monsters trail_, thought Zack, _though it seems we are falling behind. How can it move so fast with the amount of blood it leaves behind as a marking? No matter, eventually we'll find it and kill it, or, perhaps, the creatures and traps in Magus' tunnel will do the job for us._ Zack signaled to the rest of the group to wait until they could open the tunnel's entrance to proceed further.

Despite the claim that the entrance lead to a secret tunnel, there were only a few secrets that the Observers and the Chronopolis didn't know. For example; Zack knew how to make the entrance appear, as did everyone else that was in his squad, and he chuckled slightly at the thought that it was suppose to be a secret in the first place. It was fairly simple actually, a lot less complicated than Crono and Frog's group had made it, he mused. They'd used the Masamune and cleaved it in two, while all they really needed to do was speak the password.

"In the name of the great Lord Magus, I bow down as a humble servant and seek passage to your domain to better serve you. Mi tessla su ripenel" Zack solemnly recited, the last words being the final trigger to the cave's spell. Without flare or dramatics the rocks moved eerily and silently aside and darkness greeted the ex-Observer group. It was time to move once again and no time for rest; their path was opened and their target was somewhere beyond, that was all they needed.

_Unfortunately_, Zack thought, _that wasn't true. They'd also need sleep and food soon._ He was proud that no one had complained yet as they trekked through the night and day without rest, a testament to their stamina and discipline, and again he was appalled that the Chronopolis had taken their gate access away. How could they do this to such good soldiers? All they wanted to do was serve the station and how did it repay them? Accuses them of crimes and strip them of their honor.

_Soon_, he reminded himself, _they'd have their honor restored and back where they rightfully belonged._

---/

"Fnorm?" Lana asked, confused, when she saw the goblin resting easily in a fold out lawn chair several feet away. It appeared they were back in her mind again, or perhaps Fnorm's mind this time, as all around there was a black void and Lana was again small and in her lose pink pajamas.

"Ahhh!" Yelled the goblin as it practically fell out of her chair but managed to save itself at the last minute. "By Magus, child," cursed the goblin "You scared me senseless, almost wrecked me precious chair."

"Sorry," apologized Lana, materializing a large cushion to sit on, before continuing. "It's horrible Fnorm I can't seem to do anything about it. It just … it just uses me… and I can't stop it," Lana hadn't realized how much she'd need to get that out and was on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry lass," said the goblin comfortingly as it hopped of it's chair and came to sit down on the pillow next to Lana, "Wish ah could've saved ye the shock, but it somethin that ya had to feel yerself. We've got a hard master."

"You don't understand, it made me kill someone." this time Lana did cry and latched onto the small goblin for comfort, using Fnorm as the proverbial shoulder to cry on, "It made me kill when it wasn't needed, I could have disarmed him and he would still be alive. But…it just used me … and I didn't want to kill him, really I didn't." Lana explained between tears until she had no more to cry and gingerly removed herself from the goblin's arms, wiping at her eyes with the pajama sleeves and looking a slight bit embarrassed about the outburst.

"Don't worry child, everyone sheds tears now an then," comforted Fnorm further. "You gonna to be ok?"

"I think so," nodded Lana "Is this what it's like all the time? I can't imagine going through the rest of my life being used…like this." Lana frowned at the thoughts her last sentence provoked and shook her head violently to clear them.

"It gets a wee bit easier," commented the goblin, turning Lana's head so they were face to face with eachother, and stared in the sad girl's eyes "It gets better. Ya learn how to understand it better an better as time goes on, an just end up doin what it wants before it uses ya. Ain't much better, I ain't goin ta tell ya lies, but it at least gives ya the choice of how it gets ta be done."

"I hate it," whispered Lana "I hate it and I wish it was still sealed up." I sound like Janus, thought Lana as her own words reached her ears.

"Come now child, not all bad coulda come from it. Somethin good musta happened," commented Fnorm as it patted Lana on the back again and got up to sit back in the lawn chair. "I may not enjoy bein bossed 'round to much either, but ain't all bad and I do a lot of folks some good."

It occurred to Lana then that, had she not unlocked the strange ability, she'd never have been able to save Glenn, survive the snake woman, or find shelter for the two of them. But it had made her kill, Lana retorted to her own good points; that was unacceptable. No matter what Fnorm said, Lana couldn't think of it in a good light, there was always going to be blood on her hands because of it.

"By yer 'spression it seems ya don't agree with me there," sighed Fnorm "Well neither did I when it first started, time will show ya though." The goblin had a glass of lemonade, or some other yellow liquid beverage, appear in its' hands and sipped at it. "Tell ya what, next time ya sense it, just think bout what it might want. Should give ya a hint or three. Then ya do it and it won't make use of ya without yer permission."

"I'm sorry Fnorm," said Lana with hints of anger in her voice "I just…can't do that. I'm going to find a way to turn it off again and that will be that." Lana's goblin companion sighed in response but nodded in understanding all the same.

"Thanks for letting me vent though", bowed Lana "I want to spend some time alone, I need to think."

"I understand ya, just don't ya get too lost in yer own thoughts," said the goblin as it waved good-bye "Good luck, ya crazy half breed."

Lana smiled as Fnorm left, taking the goblins' parting not as an insult but a friendly ribbing. It was amazing that only two days ago she'd just meet Fnorm and already they were friends. _Two days_, sighed Lana, _seems more like two weeks_.

Lana sighed again and fell backwards into her large, comfy, and wholly in her mind, pillow. She did need time to think, that was no lie, but the real reason Lana had dismissed Fnorm so quickly was that she just wanted to forget about her situation for a moment, or more. To clear the crazed man's dying grimace from her mind and forget about the blood that stained her hands. In short; she needed to loose herself for a few hours.

_He seemed to know something he wasn't telling me_, considered Lana as she thought about her encounter with the warlock. Maybe it was something in his past, something that she'd copied into her own head. Now was the perfect time to shuffle through some memories and Lana queried her mind for anything with the mention of the Black Wind in it.

While she searched it briefly crossed her mind that this might be considered invading Janus privacy, but it was only a brief thought. These were her memories now, wanted or not, and her right to see what was in her head just as he had the right to see what was in his. There was also the fact that this controlling force was more important than his privacy at the moment, thought Lana, besides there can't be anything too horribly embarrassing in them. Her mind narrowed in on one scene that she remembered, or he remembered, as having something to do with the black wind.

---/

Snow and ice, as far as the eye could see, was a good description of the Ice Age. Snow even managed to extend its' mighty reach up and over the mountains, leaving the peaks as white as the ground below. On one of these snow-topped peaks, a storm ragging in the air, two royal siblings sat watching with solemn faces. Clouds, grey and depressing, blotted out the sun with the exception of the few rays that would pierce the gloom and reach below. It was a stark contrast of truth, and reality, to the promising, and dream-filled, kingdom of Zeal.

The storm's reach, while mighty enough to cover mountains, could not conquer magic. The snow and ice melted as they collided with the magical barrier Schala had erected to keep them safe from the weather, the water pooling around the edges and freezing once again. The magic formed a snow-less dot on the large mountain face, like a pimple, and Janus, with Alfrador tagging behind, paced around the inside of the sphere. Sporadically he'd reach out to grab a handful of snow to pull in, only to end up with an empty hand of air once he brought it back through the barrier.

"Schalaaaaa," Janus called as he approached his sister, plopping down besides her while she stared purposely out into the storm. Schala blinked out of whatever trance she'd been in and smiled sisterly at her younger brother "Yes Janus?"

"Why do we always have to come here?" Pouted the royal youth, Alfrador mewing agreement "There's nothing to look at and it's always cold."

Schala smiled, the kind of smile that always made Janus want to join is as well, and turned back to cast her gaze across the bleak environs. Her smile vanished, replaced by a thoughtful frown as she spoke "That sums the whole world up right now, cold and nothing to look at. How do you think the earthbounds feel." she sadly commented. "We have this magic to protect us, what do they have?"

"Serves them right since they can't use magic," snidely said Janus, repeating what he'd heard at school from teachers and classmates, but Schala's sharp look told him that perhaps they weren't the best source to be quoting right now. He also felt a sort of resentment towards the earthbounds, always being called one at school from his lack of magical prowess, and it manifested itself in his attitude and speech at times.

"Says the prince that can't use magic," she commented "Should we stick him down there as well?" Janus furiously shook his head at this and Schala continued "Does it seem fair that we keep all the benefits to ourselves?" She paused and continued to look out across the pelting storm, howling winds, and other snow covered mountains.

"I guess not…" submitted Janus, sullen that he'd managed to upset his sister. His face lit up with a new idea, something to please the older sibling, and he quickly gathered his thoughts in a proclamation. "One day I'll be a great mage, and I'll use my magic to help people that can't use magic," proudly stated Janus, Alfrador chiming in with his approving mew once again. That placated Schala and her sharp look softened into a smile.

"I hope so little brother," thoughtfully frowned Schala as she ruffled Janus' long hair with her free hand. "For their sakes, I hope so." Janus couldn't help but look away from her sad face, he couldn't bear to see her frown, and at the moment he wanted them both to be away from here and some place happier.

"Let's go back," suggested Janus "Mother's probably worried." He knew that was far from the truth. Their mother seemed less and less concerned about their wellbeing, spending more and more time locked behind closed doors, and it hurt him to realize that. Schala didn't see it though, or if she did she ignored it, and Janus felt like he was the only one to see the change.

"You're probably right," sighed Schala "But I can't shake the feeling that I need to do something here. ITS' telling me I need to do something." Her face crumpled into a frown and she shook her head as it shoeing away large insects.

"The black wind," commented Janus with a frown "Its' talking to you again isn't it?"

"I really wish you wouldn't call it that," chided Schala "Makes it sound evil and foreboding."

"But it is, it makes me do stuff!" Janus waved his arms in the air in anger, a humorous act coming from his childish form, and Alfrador scampered away to take shelter behind Schala. "I told it to stop but it doesn't listen to me!"

"Come here" motioned Schala with open arms to her brother. Janus hesitantly crawled into her embrace and was covered in a gentle hug. "It can't make you do anything you don't want to. I figured that by now you would have been able to control it but oh well," explained Schala "Here, I'll quiet it for you so, once your ready, you can talk to it again."

Schala chanted something soft, too soft for even Janus, who was still in her gentle embrace, to hear. A warm feeling moved over the prince, a gentle prickle at first, and spread through his entire body. When Schala stopped chanting and the warm energy left Janus it felt as if something was numb, like his foot had fallen asleep, but eventually the numbed feeling was pushed to the back of his mind. The black wind was still there, but now it was a faint whisper.

"Thanks," smiled Janus, hugging his big sister before Alfrador pounced on top of both of them. Soon Janus was off chasing the purple feline and Schala was looking out across the bleak landscape again. Then the memory ended, either the rest was actually forgotten by Janus, or she had pulled out too soon and cut part of it out. Either way at least it was a lead; and a reminder of Schala.

Lana, through Janus' memory, missed Schala at that moment and had to shake herself to sense. There had just been a vital clue presented to her, Schala had sealed Janus' talent up so perhaps Janus could do the same for her, and it should be a joyous discovery. Instead, here she was missing a sister that wasn't even hers to begin with.

_What's happening to me_, thought Lana, _and why?_

Only silence answered her questions, silence that couldn't comfort the growing worry that, whatever had happened, she would never be the same again.

---/


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Soft sunlight filtered in through the trees, highlighting random spots of the clearing, and silence echoed where previously there had been battle. _Not now though_, thought the Nu as it poked its' head above the bushes_, now they are all finally gone._ Being the cautious type he ducked back behind the bush and slowly poked his head up again, noting every disturbance of leaf and splash of blood, before stepping timorously out from the large bush it had been hiding behind.

The past few days had been quiet hectic, people coming here to visit the frog person that lived next door and then fighting one another. Not only did they run about and make a mess of things, they'd also managed to get the trees' and bushes' dirty with their blood. _How rude! Then again that's what I get for letting a frog live here_, the Nu scolded himself, _they ALWAYS cause trouble._

Sighing it went about the task of bending the branches back, healing injuries caused to the foliage, and, using spit and a large rock, he also removed the blood that soaked the ground. A blood stain was hard to remove once it settled, doubly so with only a rock, and so the Nu worked furiously to finish his work before it settled too long. Luckily it was just pass mid-day so he had plenty of daylight with which to work with. "I am kicking him out first thing when he comes back," growled the Nu as he worked "I haven't seen manners this bad since that Ioka girl."

At that moment he sensed something else was approaching, something else much, much, worse than the last two groups combined. _ Someone else to visit the annoying frog_, angrily though the Nu, crushing the cleaning rock in his hands, _that is it! I am putting my foot down._ Determined, and while still having that determination, the Nu stood proud and tall as a large time portal appeared before it, materializing only feet away. Time portals didn't intimidate the ageless being, he'd seen plenty of them, and if they thought he'd be spooked so easily then they had another thing coming.

The first person to step out was a purple haired girl, light brown skin with exotic features, and the Nu smiled as it pictured the girl running away in abject terror as he exploded in anger. The smile vanished as her steely eyed companion, clad in a leather breast plate and dark leather pants, stepped out to stand mightily next to the smaller girl. The tall man's gaze locked with the Nu's for a brief second before the Nu decided to launch an attack while he still had the courage.

"This clearing is closed to public use," it angrily said, gaining a curious stare from both of the intruders "I am going to have to ask you to leave."

---/

Stepping out of a time portal and seeing a Nu was surprise enough, hearing the very same Nu tell them to beat it was just too much. It took Spekkio a moment to process the Nu's request, and a second more to laugh inwardly at the Nu and the polite request that it maintained while angry.

"Well that's a new one," commented Spekkio as he squatted down to get eye level with the Nu "A Nu sticking up for himself, and here I thought they were all cowards."

"WHAAAA!" angrily screamed the Nu, blue arms shaking furiously in the air, before attempting to run up to the girl and smack her with its' oversized face. Unfortunately it tripped on itself, thumping harmlessly, but loudly, into the soft earth and leaving a nice Nu size imprint. The blue creature struggled for a few moments before ceasing its' battle and lay where it fell.

"…." commented Janus, rubbing his forehead in an attempt to erase the stupidity of what had just happened. Spekkio on the other hand laughed aloud, laughing so hard that soon the shape-shifter fell on his backside, but still continued. _Sometimes_, thought Janus to himself, _I understand why a civilization that sought wisdom from the Nu's ultimately failed._

Leaving behind the unmoving Nu, and the still laughing Spekkio, Janus wondered the clearing and examined the grass and trees, as well as the few blood spots that the Nu had been unable to remove with the cleaning rock. Janus sighed aloud, already he knew that they were off by a day or two, but one last test would confirm it. He poked his head down into the hole, not even bothering to climb the small ladder, and spotted the torture tools, various blood splotches, and a variety of tracks. Not only had he arrived after Lana had rescued Frog, it also seemed he'd arrived after the ex-Observer team had made it back as well.

Janus walked back over to the Nu who, for some reason, was still unmoving; perhaps in hopes that the two strangers would go away and leave him be. Spekkio, on the other hand, had grabbed a small stick and had taken to poking the Nu repeatedly, giggling with each prodding. At that moment Janus questioned his own sanity at agreeing to let the shape-shifter accompany him.

"You've seen others come through here, describe them." Janus ordered, bending down to remove the Nu from its' hole. The creature seemed asleep, eyes closed and snores coming from its' mouth, but the warlock knew better. A quick backhand brought the Nu's eyes flying open as Janus harshly explained himself, "I don't have time for your games Nu." Once he saw that he had the Nu's undivided, yet angry, gaze, he continued. "Who else came through here?"

The Nu was reluctant to answer at first but thought better of remaining silent, that backhand had hurt, and, instead, decided the faster he answered the faster the two would leave. "There was a snake woman and a purple haired girl that looked exactly like that one right there," the Nu pointed at Spekkio who quickly hid the stick and smiled innocently. "There was also a group of green cloaked ones. They didn't talk much and were out of there pretty quick. The snake woman and the purple haired one made a mess of things though, getting blood on the poor trees and grass, and upset the greenery very much. I'm of a mind to…" the Nu continued to prattle on, promising a painful demise to those who ever did such a thing again. Janus silenced it was a measured glare and chose his next question.

"The snake woman, describe what she looked like." ordered Janus. The Nu looked helplessly at the warlock, receiving another hard glare, before sighing. "She looked like with a woman with scales. What, do you expect that I draw pictures of everyone that comes through here? I can't remember much else."

Spekkio stepped up beside the warlock, though Janus noted now that he had changed his shape yet again to resemble Lana except now her light brown skin had been replaced with light green scales. The purple hair and every other aspect of Spekkio's previous shape remained. "Like this?" Asked the squirrelly shape-shifter.

The Nu looked very confused, but only for a second, before a twinkle in his eye indicated he was interested "Just like that, except a little taller, and the hair is all wrong. She had a bunch of green stalk things that ran down past her neck. I also don't remember her wearing any clothes, a most un-decent guest." Spekkio made all the proper adjustments, now looking nothing at all like Lana, save the face, and the Nu paced around the newest model.

"Much better," it applauded "But you have the face all wrong, she had fearsome canines and eyes like a reptiles, a dark red." They continued for several minutes, the Nu advising Spekkio on what to change and Spekkio making the changes for the Nu to observe. It was rather comical, thought Janus, but it was more amazing that the shape-shifter had actually come in useful. The image that was resulting from their work resembled something Janus had once known, or at least he thought he had once known it because it was vaguely, yet intimately, familiar to him.

"Perfect," smiled the Nu "That is an amazing ability you have!" Spekkio, for all purposes, now resembled the monster Lana had encountered down to a tee. Spekkio also smiled, glad to have a challenge, and commented, "You said that the last time we did this." That gave the Nu pause as it stopped to think and Janus used the silence to examine Spekkio himself.

_I know this from somewhere_, thought Janus to himself, _somewhere…from the dark ages. That was it! I made her in the dark ages to help me defeat Lavos, but… I thought she was dead!_ Janus' realization never dawned on his face and Spekkio wondered why the warlock had paused and kept staring furiously at this forms face. The shape-shifter smiled predatorily, the only smile this form seemed able to do, and Janus grimaced in response. There was no mistake about it, this was Geon.

"Spekkio, keep looking for Lana." said Janus aloud. Spekkio deadpanned, that had been a sudden request, before regaining his mental facilities.

"While you what, sit here and relax?" Responded Spekkio, "No way!"

"I know what that creature is, something much too dangerous to be left alive. I'm going to go after it, you find Lana. I have some measure of confidence that sometimes you know what you are doing, so don't fail. I'll find both of you once I've disposed of my mistake." Janus explained, only confusing the poor shape-shifter even more.

There was one thing Spekkio had learned after all his time with Janus; there were times to argue and times to take his orders to heart, now was one of the later. Janus wouldn't abandon them both here, Spekkio knew that with certainty. It wasn't that Spekkio believed Janus to be a kind hearted individual, but Spekkio did know that if he disappeared people would ask questions, Gaspar being chief among them, and then Janus would be in some real trouble. Best to let Janus handle the dirty work anyway, reasoned the Geon look-alike, and leave me to frolic through the forest.

"Don't forget," Janus reminded Spekkio, almost as if reading the shape-shifters thoughts "Lana and Frog are at risk, don't do anything stupid." That seemed the last of Janus' requests as he walked a short distance into the woods, hiding himself in the oaks and pines, before he began the spell.

Like all creations Janus, nay Magus, had built, he'd designed them with certain magic features. One was the ability to teleport to her exact location, if she was alive, and if the spell failed then that just meant less work for the already stressed warlock. Again he reached through the stuff of the cosmos and tweaked and altered that which he needed to change. His great will enforcing the changes he desired and as he continued to chant, he continued to make changes. Energy surrounded him and then he was traveling through space, to his creation.

His creation which, at that very moment, was kneeling at the foot of her creator's throne.

---/

"Ah ha," shouted the Nu after Janus had left Spekkio, still slightly puzzled, by himself. "I remember now, you were the shape-shifter from Zeal. I thought you'd perished with the rest of them when it fell but I'm glad to see I'm wrong."

"Me too, though I've been stuck in a really strange place." laughed Spekkio, reverting to his normal white fur-ball form. Recognition dawned on the Nu's face, Spekkio's recent form was the guise he most often wore when they had ventured to the surface. "I'd love to stay and chat but if I don't find my mage hunter, Janus is going to kill me."

"The purple haired one?" Guessed the Nu and Spekkio nodded affirmative, causing a smile to spread across the Nu's large and oblong face.

"I can help you with that, I know which way they went." cheerfully chimed in the Nu for his friend, a long lost one but friend none the less. Talking directions from the Nu the two started walking; Spekkio enjoying the sights and sounds of the forest again, and the Nu enjoying the opportunity to talk to someone equally ageless.

"So, I take it everything went according to plan?" Inquired the Nu as they walked, Spekkio laughed in response.

"Boy did it ever!"

---/

Dark blue flames burned in the large braziers that lined the walkway to Magus' throne. An equally dark blue carpet, golden edged, formed said walkway and circled about the throne as well, forming the platform where the throne ultimately sat. It was an ebony hue, the legs and armrests resembled large bones, with the body of the seat looking like a twisted and mutated piece of petrified flesh; there were no cushions or luxuries to this seat of power, only the menacing shape. Behind sat the four armed demonic statue, further casting the room in a doom and gloom aura, and smaller golden braziers hung from the hands that each muscular looking arm ended with.

No one, save Ozzie and at times Slash, would ever interrupt Magus when he was in this room. While it served as his throne room no one ever stepped foot inside, save those two, and returned alive, unless they had been invited. It was there that the King of the Mystics did his research, his experiments, and planned strategies that would erase the foolish humans forever, or at least that's what he let them believe. He had other plans, plans far more important than killing humans, or mystics for that matter, and those were the plans always at the foremost of his thoughts.

A piece of his plan, a piece he'd thought long lost, was now kneeling before the dour warlock. Injured, but not broken, Geon had somehow returned after more than a year of absence, even though he had been unable to sense her magically. He wasn't sure which was more important; the fact that she had returned, or that fact that she had been away for so long and without his supervision.

At that moment Ozzie, his tub of lard second in command, ran frantically through the doors. The white voluminous robes that constantly covered his form, conveniently easy to slip over his large flub, flapped about as he ran full out to take his position at Magus' right side. Ozzie looked surprised, glancing at Geon as he ran and then back to Magus, but the warlock's cold hard gaze was unreadable.

"OZZIE!" Magus boomed, catching Ozzie mid-run and causing the mystic to try and move even faster. Apparently he was so afraid that he'd even forgotten his levitation spell; Ozzie always hated running.

"Yes o' lord of darkness?" called out Ozzie, breathing hard as he reached Magus' side. Sweat poured from every pore and the tub o' lard was retching in breaths as if he were dying, perhaps he was knowing his physical condition, and Janus mused that perhaps Ozzie should be frightened more often.

"Geon has informed me that you sent her on a mission to kill the frog swordsman, is that true?" Magus asked in unreadable tones. This sent Ozzie to blabbering this and that before a sharp glance from the warlock told Ozzie he'd better explain this nice, and slow.

Ozzie though had no idea, not an answer you want to give to Magus, and so the blabbering had really been more of a cover-up until his brain had time to come up with an excuse. Never mind the fact that Geon was here, instead of locked away below his keep in a statis spell like she should be, or that he'd never told her to kill anyone, yet. But Ozzie, while cowardly and fat, was not as stupid as it first seemed. He'd weaseled out of worse, he figured, and he could do it again.

"I had information that the frog was planning against you master," blurted out Ozzie "I was only trying to eliminate the frog before he could gather more momentum and attack with a greater force."

Magus' icy glare slid from Ozzie and back to Geon and then to the ceiling. "And how did you get a hold of Geon? You last reported she'd fallen in battle." The question was bone chillingly cold, as if Janus had been affronted from Ozzie's use of Geon, and Ozzie swallowed hard to keep his teeth from chattering.

"I found her sir…" meekly responded Ozzie, seeming more a question than an answer, and Magus' cold gaze rested once again on the mystic.

"Found her?" The question was both mocking and an order to further explain himself.

"In the forest around the castle…" Ozzie peeped, his voice squeaking, and his arms now just starting to wave around wildly. Magus locked eyes with the fat mystic and Ozzie knew at that point he was going to die a rather messy death, he just wasn't sure how yet. In fact, Magus was just about ready to cut the troubling general in two. A series of unpredicted event stopped him before the thought became action.

Strong magic flared in the center of the throne room, snapping Magus' attention from his fat general and directing it to the powerful magical aura. Something strong and magical was teleporting, here, this very instance, and he quickly jumped from his chair, scythe materializing immediately into his hands. Time slowed as he felt reality bulge and shift, conforming to the changes that the caster had placed upon it, and a lone figure appeared. Before the magic cleared, before reality was finished inserting the new, powerful, figure in the middle of his throne room, Magus went on the offensive.

Very few times in his life had he truly been afraid, this was one of those times. Whoever, or whatever, was coming through was just as strong, if not stronger, than the warlock. That meant he, or she, had to die and die quickly.

--/

Janus was just now getting the contents of the room in focus, it was a very dark room and he'd forgone casting a spell to see in the dark. As it came into focus he realized that he'd made a very, very, large mistake seconds before a blast of Dark Matter took him in the chest and knocked the senses out of him. His vision was dotted and his breaths pained as he materialized a staff into his hands, but it was too late. Another Dark Matter slammed again into his chest as he had begun preparation for a defense. Darkness greeted him as he cursed at the stupidity of teleporting right into the middle of his own throne room.

---/

Ozzie jumped back frantically as his master cast the most powerful spell he'd ever seen, TWICE! Unlike his muscles, which refuse to move from the wondoruos, and terrible, spectacle, his brain was still functioning just fine. Here was more proof to his story, yes that was it. The frog had sent the wizard after Magus, hoping to kill the warlock once and for all. Perfect.

"See, there is one of the frog's wizards!" pointed Ozzie at the unconscious form lying, still and unmoving, behind Geon.

Magus seemed to pay the accusation no mind, his face covered in sweat and breaths seemed labored and pained. Ozzie had never seen Magus sweat from anything, much less spell casting, and realization dawned in his mind. This would have been a worthy foe, had they not had the first strike.

"Ozzie," calmly said Magus as he stilled his trembling hands, resumed normal breathing, and wiped the sweat from his face "Alert the soldiers on the Porre continent, tell them to find this frog and kill him."

"Certainly master." smiled Ozzie as he turned to leave, his exit interrupted by Geon.

"Master, his last location was in the Cursed Woods. I ask permission to return and finish my job."

"Correction Ozzie," noted Magus "Tell them to search the Cursed Woods and kill everything in it. Have Geon healed and then send her out as well."

"Of course master, right away!"

"And Ozzie, this matter is not settled. I will deal with you in time, for now you still serve a use. Best, for you, if that continues." Magus ordered them both to leave the room, Ozzie leaving happily and Geon leaving with no discernable expression.

Only when they'd gone did Magus allow his hands to finish the trembling they had started and he breathed a gasp of relief. How that had hurt! He wailed to himself. How powerful that wizard must have been if it had taken two Dark Matters to knock him out. _ONLY knock him out_, Magus reminded himself. His fingertips hurt, smoke rising off the ends, and his mind was a pounding drum, still, from the hasty casting.

Minutes passed and slowly the effects left Magus, leaving him only sore and with a small migraine, but it was better than the previous pain. He breathed slowly, noticing the wizard's body did the same, and his thoughts turned to the sudden surprise visitor. He wore a dark leather breast plate and dark leather pants, much like Magus, but his hair was a light brown and his skin a healthy tan hue.

Slowly, and painfully, rising from his throne, Magus walked carefully down to examine the wizard. The staff, Magus commented as he picked it up, was well made and contained many spell runes running down the side, spell runes that even he didn't know. It was even weighted perfectly and, if the warlock didn't favor the scythe, perhaps he would have taken it as a weapon. Instead he tossed it to the side in disgust; but not at the wizard lying before him or the thrown staff.

The disgust was aimed inwards, towards himself, and his inability to gain the strength he would need. If this mysterious and unheard of wizard was more powerful than Magus, then what chance did the ex-prince have against Lavos when the time came to save his sister? What good would he be able to accomplish if he remained as weak as he was? The question angered the warlock and he roared aloud, to the empty room and to fate, expressing his hatred.

All was not lost, realized Magus after his anger was released, _I've learned something valuable today. Even the mighty can be surprised. Even I can be surprise_, he added mentally. Also, he now realized the wizard was at his mercy; he could kill the intruder, or, perhaps, find another use for him. Force him to teach the warlock a few of those spell runes for example; make Magus stronger, strong enough to destroy even Lavos.

---/

"Again!" Shouted the purple skinned Slash as his opponent, the wide and bulky Henchmen, grunted and managed to hoist the large war-hammer off the ground. The burly Henchmen's arms shook with the effort, his legs shaking as well to keep him standing, and he was clearly unready to make an intelligent attack against the much more skilled Slash. Slash, though, was expecting just that.

One of Magus' three generals, and at times a company leader of soldiers, stood poised in his battle stance, perfectly formed, with his sword out and at the ready. He wore a thin white cotton shirt, complete with a dark purple vest covering it, and lighter purple pants that served as the only form of armor and was barely moist with sweat from the long training session. Anxious, calculating, eyes examined his opponent piece by piece as he awaited the inevitable attack. Though he stood shorter than the henchmen, he'd learned long ago that size didn't matter, what mattered was how quickly you could kill your enemy.

"Don't just stand there all day maggot, attack me!" Slash ordered the aforementioned henchmen. The henchman came on, raising the large war-hammer high above his head, or as high as his tired muscles could go, and ran full tilt at the general. Slash easily side-stepped the hammer as it sailed downwards and impacted in the ground with a great THUMP. In the next instance Slash grabbed onto the handle of the Henchman's own hammer and, using it for a brace, kicked out at his opponent's windpipe. Forced to either relinquish the hammer or have his throat kicked in, the Henchman let go of the hammer and furiously back-peddled away.

The back-peddle was hasty and ill-planned and the Henchmen now tried to regain his balance, finding it just as Slash's sword stopped millimeters away from the now frightened warrior's neck. Slash moved the blade slightly closer, watching the Henchmen's eyes move with it, and rested it against his adversary's neck. The Henchmen immediately held his hands up in defeat, an inevitable defeat but defeat none-the-less. Slash nodded, informing the terrified warrior that he acknowledged the surrender and, quick as lightning, had his sword back in its' sheath. The Henchmen visibly relaxed and collapsed, his muscles tired of supporting his weight and from the sudden relief he felt.

"Today's lesson," explained Slash to the watching group, compromised of more henchmen, diablos, and free lancer's, that had every eye and ear glued to the general's actions. "Do not attack without a plan. Running at your opponent with the mere intent of smashing him IS NOT a plan." Slash eyed the henchmen sitting on the ground, the mentioned soldier nodded in understanding, or at least Slash hopped it was understanding. These Henchmen weren't the smartest kids in the class.

"Always think ahead of your opponent, if he has a sword realize this and attack him with the greater reach of the war-hammer. If your opponent has a shield take into account how large it is, how sturdy it looks, how strong the arm behind that shield is, and then overcome the obstacle. Do no blindly rush into waiting steel. Victory isn't won with smashing, victory is won through planning. Think on this or else meet a quick death in the next battle."

Slash ended his lecture and dismissed the troops for chow, something they all eagerly looked forward to. The battle hardened general, though, sighed and shook his head. Half of them wouldn't last the next battle, but the remaining unit would be stronger for it. He didn't need useless soldiers slowing him down and, in his opinion, the more that died meant the stronger the rest must, and would, become. A small vibration beneath his thin cloth shirt shook him from his thoughts. Perhaps the next battle would come sooner than expected.

He quickly walked through the meager camp, a few tents and large meeting area for meals covered by a filthy canopy, and entered into his private cottage tent. The general quickly reached down and removed the small blue orb from his armor and placed it on top of the many maps that were spread across his large table. Immediately the plump green face of Ozzie appeared in the small globe, a most unwelcome sight. Slash grimaced, a sight not unnoticed by the ex-mystic leader, and pulled up a wooden chair so at least he wouldn't have to stand AND listen to Ozzie.

"Hello Ozzie," greeted the general "What brings you calling?"

"Orders from Magus." quickly explained Ozzie, and Slash noticed that the fat one looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Well get on with them," urged Slash, afraid that perhaps Ozzie had died in the middle of the conversation.

"Ah yes, Ahem, You are to take your unit and dispose of every, and any, living thing in the Cursed Woods. More specifically, though, he wants the frog swordsman dead. You are close to the area correct?"

Slash nodded, they were just due north of the Cursed Woods and just below the town of Dorino. He could have his company there before the next morning if they marched through the night. "Why this all of a sudden? We are supposed to attack the town tomorrow, why such a diversion for one annoying frog?" Asked the surprised general, from all accounts the frog had left them alone after Cyrus' death, except for the occasional small raids.

"The great Magus was just attacked in his own thrown room by a wizard sent by the frog. We were the victors though and now he thinks that the frog needs to learn his place," smiled Ozzie evilly "And we get to finish the job Magus started 5 years ago."

"Also," gulped the fat wizard "I'll be sending … Geon … to help when she is healed. Do no wait for her though, it might … be a few days."

"Geon?" Asked Slash, "Don't tell me he found out about…" Slash stopped as Ozzie quickly shushed him. The tub of lard looked around, fear evident in his face, and then kneeled down closer to his own orb.

"I don't know. She was down THERE this morning and all of a sudden she bursts into the throne room asking Magus for additional units to help kill the frog. A mission she claims I sent her on." Ozzie quickly whispered to Slash and then stood back up to normal height. Slash knew they'd talk about it once he returned, whenever that might be, and Ozzie would work out the details in the mean time.

"Send word once you've disposed of the frog, and if Geon manages to meet an unmentionable demise while there, well … so be it." Ozzie looked around again, winked his oversized eyebrow at the general, and quickly cut off communications.

Slash quickly tucked the orb back into a small pouch worn around his chest on a sash like a bandolier. Most of the human troops were surrounding Dorino at this very moment, preparing for the inevitable attack, so he should be able to take his company straight to the forest without any run-ins with the enemy. _A pity_, he thought, _but I'm sure the frog will weed out some of the weaker ones himself._

"Cram down what you've got left and pack up camp, we march in a half an hour!" Slash yelled as he walked forcefully from his tent and, hopefully, to another engaging battle.


	11. Chapter 11

Well, at long last, I have an update. I apologize to any that happened to be waiting for this update, a ship's underway schedule is never, ever, stable and we've had quite a few exercises to complete this year. Anyway, I hope to be updating semi-regularly and have taken the winter break as an opportunity to get a lot of writing done then edit later. Anyways, enjoy!

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Chapter 11: Unknown Affections

"Schala…" Lana mumbled as she struggled from the reins of sleep, her mind half filled with dreams and half filled with the returning sensation of her body. She struggled to remember where she was, why she was surrounded by trees, and where her sister was at. After all, Lana wouldn't have made a trip to the surface without her sister and neither would Schala have let her go. The older magic user always did worry too much. After spending several moments trying to collect herself, Lana let out a tired groan as she realized whose sister she was looking for.

"Why do I keep thinking about his sister?" she sighed to herself, "Didn't Fnorm say this was suppose to stop anyways?"

Her only answer was the soft chirps of the evening, splashed with the dimming golden radiance of the sun. The golden speckles amongst the trees and clouds traced her mind back to memories of Zeal. Of the sea of orange fire that appeared every sunset. Of playing with the Nu's, of receiving a warm hug from Schala, or of simply watching the Guru's argue amongst themselves.

"What's wrong with you?!" Exclaimed Lana as she pinched herself to wake from the day dream of someone else's memories.

"Milady?" croaked Frog behind her, apparently up and listening, and Lana almost let out an "eep" at being caught scolding herself.

"It's nothing," she quickly said before stretching out of her ball-like position. Standing and stretching, Lana felt good-as-new and was amazed that the effects of the slurp were still with her. Going over her wound once, she could feel the scabs that had formed but could trace the wound without feeling any pain what so ever.

"Whatever's in your saliva, its' potent stuff," stated Lana as she sat down next to Glenn, "You should think about selling it in bottles."

The small joke made Glenn smile, an odd expression for a reptile to assume, and he croaked something that Lana assumed was approval, "Tiss satisfying to see that you feel well."

"What about you? Doing any better?" asked Lana as she sized the frog-man up, noting he seemed slightly greener than before. Not sure whether frogs turned greener when healthy or if maybe it just happened at random, she didn't mention it.

"I still hath not croaked," stated Glenn, catching Lana off guard with the joke, and she smiled slightly at the pun.

"Do I detect a hint of humor there?" asked Lana as she smiled, "I didn't think knights were allowed to make jokes."

"Only bad jokes milady, helps to keep the lasses at bay," Glenn replied straight faced, a hint of a smile played behind his serious mask, "And mine health seems to be on the improve. I again thank thee for thine assistants."

"Well, lets get some food in you then," stated the mage-hunter while rummaging through the jars of berries and jerky. Pulling out their remaining supplies, she noted that they'd already gone through one jar of food and only two jars remained. Maybe enough to last two more days, noted Lana, but they'd need to secure an alternate food source fast; who knew how long they'd be here? As she handed out the food between the two she concluded that their must be a bush that the berries originated from and at least one or two small animals scampering about to cook.

"Thank thee milady," said Glenn as he took his share of berries and meat, with weak and shaky arms, and began slowly eating them.

"No problem," responded Lana while she too ate her fill of the food. While the meager rations could have been eaten in three of four bites both endeavored to make the meal last as long as they could, nibbling on the pieces of jerky and slowly chewing the berries. Both sat silent as they ate their meal and watched the sun continue its' descent. Finally the hiatus in conversation was broken by Glenn as the last tendrils of orange faded from the skies, his food apparently finished before the sunset.

"Your thoughts milady?" at first Lana didn't respond, instead staring at the clouds still, and Glenn gave a worried croak.

"Just thinking," replied Lana at last as she ripped her gaze from the vanishing sunset, "Why do you ask?"

"One doth not stare into yon sunset in quiet monologue least a great burden doth rest on thine shoulders," stated Glenn as he continued to trace the sun's descent with his eyes.

"And what about you?" asked Lana, the irony that Glenn too was staring off into the sunset was not lost on her.

"I doth ponder as well," stated Glenn, "Of things long left in the past."

"You don't say…," Lana distractedly responded. She left the rest of it hang as she rose to walk across the clearing and grab her water-skin before returning to Glenn's sitting spot and giving him a drink.

"Have you ever heard of a place called Zeal?" asked Lana after Glenn was done and she'd resumed sitting.

"Nay," replied Glenn.

"It's not really a real place," Mused Lana, "More like a story book kingdom. It was supposed to have once existed in the clouds long, long ago."

"A castle in the sky, an enviable position," stated Glenn as he craned his head skyward.

"All the people there used magic in everyday life, it was as common to them as riding as horse is to us. It wasn't just a castle either, they had city's that were made of white marble and laced with gold. No one went hungry, no one went cold, and everyone was happy. It was a land of dreams."

"I keep …imagining… what it must have been like to look out across the clouds during sunset. To see a sea of rolling orange that stretched to the horizon. To live in a place where everyday you looked out your window and saw such a sight…."

To Glenn it seemed her voice took on a quality of someone who'd seen such things, someone who'd witnessed these marvels first hand. It was a voice steeped in experience that made him fully visualize just what it might have been like, "Tiss indeed a fae place. What became of such grandeur?"

"They kept wanting more and more magic, until their greed ended up awakening a monster that destroyed their kingdom." It was said in such a drool tone, lacking the amazement that her earlier descriptions gave, and he hardly felt sympathy at the kingdom's destruction.

"A valuable lesson," nodded Glenn, "Greed hath laid low most of those that have taken its' mantle as their own."

"I think it would have been a nice place to have lived in though," sighed Lana at last, returning her gaze to the now shady clouds as the darkness of night came.

"Indeed, but thou canst live in a land made of dreams," stated Glenn in all seriousness.

"You right," agreed Lana with a grunt as she rose, grabbing her sword in the process, "Eventually you wake up."

-----------------

"Should be just up ahead," claimed the confident Nu as it walked forward, ungainly arms wagging back and forth with its' strides. Behind the ancient source of wisdom was Spekkio, following the Nu and looking a tad lest confident than his current leader. They'd stopped conversing awhile ago, neither having anything else to say, and the cheery conversation that had occurred at their first meeting earlier that day seemed foreign to the two of them now. The sun had set recently but they'd been walking all day and Spekkio was just starting to wonder whether he'd been correct in picking this guide.

"That's what you've been saying for the past hour," sourly stated Spekkio, "Just admit when you're lost."

"I am not lost," huffed the Nu as it simply increased its' pace. Spekkio trotted to keep up with it.

"I'm just saying, maybe you got mixed around," stated the shape-shifter as he trotted after the Nu, "Lost might be too strong of a word for it. I mean, these trees all look alike so it'd be easy to get turned around."

"I am NOT lost!" Exclaimed the Nu as it turned around, red faced, to face Spekkio, almost causing a collision between the two, "I'll have you know that I am the care taker of this forest, and implying that I am lost in my own forest is insulting; simply insulting!"

The Nu turned back around but did not start his relentless pace up again. "I know exactly where I'm going. I know every tree and rock here…. I just don't know where your mage hunter is," admitted the Nu at last as Spekkio put on his deadpan expression before responding.

"Well, I suppose in that case you aren't lost," agreed Spekkio, "Just stupid."

---------

"Why can't forests have convenience stores," mumbled Lana as she cleared a path through the woods. It was all good and well that the amphibious knight was feeling better, but she almost wished he hadn't gotten his appetite back. After he asked for seconds a little later she hadn't the heart to deny someone food after they'd almost died. So here she was, walking through the woods, trying to find something to eat, and trying to erase thoughts of someone else's memories from her mind.

"Damn you Janus," continued Lana's mumbling as she chopped an overhanging branch that had gotten in her path. "What was so horrible about Zeal that you got all dark and moody!" She chopped another offending branch out of the way, the work of using her katana helping to ease her mind ever more.

Supposing there were small forest creatures around here to eat, Lana thought, I should probably be a bit quieter if I hope to catch one. Although I'd rather not have to skin anything at the moment, she squirmed inwardly; just something vegetarian would be nice for now.

She was so concentrated on self thought that she almost missed the two loud voices arguing with one another as she walked about the forest. One sounded high-pitched and sing-song, almost like the recording of a Nu she'd heard in the history video, and the other sounded very, very familiar. It was the voice of Spekkio yelling, or more precisely, mocking something. Having been one of his personnel projects, she'd heard his mocking voice more than once. Although what her combat teacher was doing in this time period was a question to her.

Running swiftly, and abandoning all hopes of stealth, she hoped to reach the argument before it became something more. Spekkio always did have a way to push people's buttons.

-------

"I'm stupid!" yelled the Nu in disbelief.

"It's good to see you can admit it!" commented the shape-shifter in congratulations-you-are-having-a-baby kind of voice.

"You…. You… you…," fumed the Nu without finding the other words he was searching for.

"Me?" questioned Spekkio with an innocent tone in his voice.

"Yes you!" angrily exclaimed the Nu, "You are a scoundrel! A scoundrel I say!"

"Ya? Well you're still stupid!" laughed Spekkio, shape-shifting into an exact duplicate of the Nu and grabbing the nearest rock.

"Dur dur dur, look at me cleaning with a rock," mocked Spekkio as he repeatedly hit the ground with a rock. The Nu was frozen in mute shock, his expression between disbelief and insulted. Not only was he being mocked, but that scoundrel was using the cleaning rock the wrong way!

"WHAAAAA," it screamed, yanking on its' little stubs of hair, "How did you know I was cleaning before you arrived!" Spekkio simply continued saying "Dur dur dur" as he repeatedly hit the ground with his rock.

"And stop mocking me!" The Nu stopped around in a little circle. "I am the wisdom of Zeal! The Wisdom of Zeal!" the shape-shifter still continued his Nu mock-up, much to the further distress of the Nu.

"I'm the great wisdom of Zeal, dur dur dur, now scratch my back," commented Spekkio.

"Alright, that's it!" Screamed the Nu as it ran forward, its' head preparing to immediately smack something. Instead of attacking his mocking partner, it again impacted the soft earth as the Nu, again, found that rocks were out to become his undoing. Spekkio, perhaps in another attempt to mock the Nu, also impacted his face into the ground.

"Dur dur dur"

------

Lana at last reached the source of the voices, one that now simply kept saying "Dur dur dur", and readied her weapon just-in-case. Stepping out from behind the overhanging branches and tall bushes, she happened upon two Nus with their faces slammed, very forcefully looking, into the ground. One was the source of the constant "dur dur dur" and the other seemed to be so angry its' whole body was turning a slight red.

"Spekkio?" asked Lana as she walked closer to her unlikely find. It was a good probability that the "dur dur dur" Nu was the one and only annoying shape-shifter. He had that unreadable aura that puzzled Lana more than she'd care to admit. Almost immediately upon hearing his name Spekkio was up and out of the whole, back in his default form.

"Lana!" laughed the shape-shifter. "We finally found you!" He ran up and gave her a great big hug as he turned into a larger version of his default form. She was about to protest that she had instead found them but the bear hug took the air from her lungs and so she simply gasped a greeting out. After a moment of crushing hugs he stepped back and reverted into his smaller form, pacing around his mage-hunter and studying her with an appreciative eye.

"Well, you don't look too bad…," started Spekkio, before being interrupted by the forgotten Nu.

"Apologize!" demanded the Nu, arms folded across his chest, and dirt still stuck to various places of his large face.

"I'm sorry you're stupid," said Spekkio with a straight face.

"You're forgiven," said the Nu as it nodded its' head as if in sagely understanding, before Spekkio's words sunk further in. "Hey wait a…"

"Enough with the past," exclaimed Spekkio as it patted the Nu on the shoulders, you found what we were looking for so good job!"

"Yes, I did do a good job didn't I?!" thought the Nu aloud, Spekkio's previous comments forgotten.

"But I found you guys…," started Lana again before Spekkio interrupted her with an exclamation of his own.

"Why bicker about the details!" loudly stated the shape-shifter, again patting the Nu on the shoulder, or where Lana guessed a Nu might have shoulders. "Simply thank the Nu for his skilled tracking."

"Ummm, thanks…I guess," said Lana, more because Spekkio had asked her too than anything else. He usually had a good idea what was going on so she had to trust him.

"So, how have you been?" asked Spekkio, cutting of the Nu's chance to respond and at the same time walking back to stand with his student.

"I've got so many questions right now..," sighed Lana as she ran her right hand through her short and soiled hair, "Right now though I really need to find some food for Glenn. I can hold of my questions till then, how about you?"

Spekkio nodded understanding and walked back to stand with the Nu. "So, buddy, know of any places to find some food? This is YOUR forest after all."

"Yes!" beamed the Nu proudly, "Yes it is!"

-------------

"What a waste of an army," murmured Slash as he watched his formations march forward at a hurried pace, "To send an entire army to defeat one frog."

Spurring his warhorse forward, the general rode to the head of his army to ensure that his front ranks of Henchmen weren't tossing the Imps around again. The general really didn't like riding the horse, it was uncomfortable and smelly, but it was a reminded the soldiers who was in power; Slash. Since mystics had never been large on cavalry, probably due to the variety of forms that they took, having a horse of any kind was something reserved only to those of high rank. They did have a unit of Roly riding imps; however they were more shock troops than anything else.

"We could be sacking Dorino this very moment," Slash continued his aloud monologue, "Instead we are wasting resources because Ozzie screwed up. Damn you, you green lard-ball."

"Sir?" Asked one of the armored Goblins, seeming to think the green lard-ball comment had been reserved for him.

"Nothing Soldier, just keep marching," replied Slash as he whipped his horse further along, surveying his troops. They had a battalion of Imps, two battalions of Henchmen, another battalion of armored Goblins, and a platoon to man the catapults. Yet here they were, marching off to kill one, small, amphibian. It was enough to make the battle tested general question Magus' leadership. In fact it did make the general question his lord's strategy, every pace they took he questioned it, and Slash was done wondering why the great Magus would order something so stupid. If he wanted any say at all in how to organize, and deploy, their troops then he'd have to take steps to prove his way was better. Today Slash was not going to waste a brigade of troops against one person.

"COMPANY, HALT!" shouted Slash, immediately the formations halted as each officer carried the order to their company.

"GORT, FRONT AND CENTER!" shouted Slash again. Sprinting as fast as his muscular legs could carry him, the armored goblin named Gort appeared next to Slash almost immediately after the call had been sent out for him. Gort was second in command, the leader of the army if Slash was ever taken out of the picture. While he was a goblin, not his fault reminded Slash to himself, he was deadly in battle and loyal without a question. He just wasn't exactly all that smart.

"Gort reporting sir!" called out Gort, standing straight at attention next to Slash and his steed. The goblin was covered neck to toe in bright shining plate, out of place next to most of the dented and grimly mails that made up the stock of the mystic army. Strapped across his back was a large steel hammer, also shining brightly, and his head was covered with a spiky dark metal helmet that made the Goblin look partially demonic.

"Change in plans Gort. I'm taking a patrol of our best fighters and continuing to the Cursed Woods. Take the rest of the unit and sack Dorino," instructed Slash.

"Sir, Yes Sir."

"Assault with catapults first, then send in the shock troops with armored Goblins to break apart any frontal defense that is left. Kill all those that would raise a weapon against you, but leave the human civilians alone. They need new slaves at the castle, Magus seems to go through the castle staff almost weekly."

"Sir, Yes Sir."

"And Gort," said Slash.

"Yes Sir?" responded the Goblin colonel.

"Make sure the catapults cease firing before you send in our troops. We don't want a repeat of Porre now do we?"

"No sir, cease catapult firing before sending in own troops. Order acknowledged," Gort saluted smartly, as smart as a Goblin can while trying to avoid the spikes on his helmet, and began shouting orders, louder than even Slash was capable of, to the formations.

The general wasn't a stranger to going on squad missions; in fact he liked that even more than commanding an army, and always had His Four ready for such a situation. Shitaki, skilled Outlaw swords bird, Asrar, master Naga sorceress, Bjarni, champion Gargoyle pit fighter, and Bob, the sneakiest Imp Slash had ever seen. These were the general's champions, the closest thing he had to friends and the deadliest that the mystics had to offer.

"Those four, plus seven or eight goblins should be enough to handle the job." Slash thought to himself, "I'll be there in any case, should be easy. It's only that pitiful Frog after all."

--------------

"What do you mean I can't come?" asked the Nu as he looked forlornly at the small fire burning at the mouth of Lana's cave. So warm yet so far away, alas cruel fates! Spekkio only sighed, putting on an exasperated act by putting his hands on his hip.

"You might freak out the frog, your not suppose to technically exist, right?" argued the shape-shifter.

"Well he doesn't know that!" argued the Nu back, "What about you anyways, how come you can go?"

"Because he's going to shape-shift into a Guardia squire before he goes anywhere," stated Lana, "and I can make a valid excuse for why he's with me. You on the other hand…"

"Are weird!" added Spekkio with a pointed finger in the air. The Nu looked crushed, staring abjectly at the ground in a child-like manner that reminded the shape-shifter of a Janus from so long ago.

"Actually it's because we have another job for you!" spoke up Spekkio, "We need you to guard the camp from any mysterious characters. You're the only one strong enough for us to trust this to."

"Really!?" asked the Nu.

"Of course!" Spekkio proclaimed as he patted the Nu on the back, "Would I lie to you?"

"Well…," thought the Nu, "Ok, I'll do it!"

"Awesome, go forth and patrol brave defender!" encouraged Spekkio as he faced the Nu away from the camp and gave him a hearty push. The Nu stumbled at first but took up a march and a tune as he went about patrolling, seemingly content at its task.

"Remember, we parted ways to look for Glenn and I found him first. We happened to run into each-other while I was out gathering food so I thought it best to bring you back," reminded Lana to Spekkio as she collected firewood in her arms.

"Yes Ma'am," mock saluted Spekkio as his form began to flow upwards until it was the perfect replica of a young lad with bright blue eyes, light, curly, blonde hair, and a Guardia Squire uniform covering his lanky frame. "There how do I look?"

"Like a cliché," joked Lana, "What should I call you?"

"Just call me Spek, short for Spekkio," instructed the shape-shifter as he adjusted the voice, giving it just a bit of in-the-middle-of-puberty squeak to it.

"How original, but it's your name," sighed the mage-hunter, "Once Glenn falls asleep I promise to explain things the best I can." Spekkio could feel a lot of mixed feelings in her words, but chief among them was helplessness.

"It'll be okay," smiled Spek, "I'll try to explain some things as well. Things aren't as out of control as you think they are."

"If you say so," sighed Lana again as she walked into the clearing and towards Glenn who stood as an alert, yet immobile, sentry.

"Hail Lana, I am gladden by your return. Who be the lad that accompanies thee?" greeted Glenn as Lana dumped the pile of firewood in the back of the cave so that it was far away from the already burning pit. Spek simply waved nervously, while smiling nervously, and approached the camp site timidly. A good actor thought Lana, though what else did I expect from a shape-shifter.

"He's my companion, Spek. We split ways when we first arrived, trying to find you, and I happened to run into him while looking for food," explained Lana, "Spek, this is Glenn, Glenn this is Spek."

"It's a umm… a great honor to meet you Sir Glenn," said Spek as he nervously bowed before the frog knight.

"Thine respects be appreciated but not fit for one in such a form as my own," said Glenn with sadness in his eyes, a sadness that seemed to fade slightly as he shook the hands of the nervous squire, "Though I am gladden to meet a companion of Lana's. Well met Spek."

"Thank you Sir."

"Ah a squire, what knight doth thou squire under?" asked Glenn once he recognized the uniform that Spek wore.

"Sir Crono," replied Spek, noting the look that Lana threw his way.

"I admit I do not recall any knowledge about a Sir Crono, mayhap I have been absent too long," admitted Glenn with something Spek found akin to shame in his voice.

"He's a brave warrior, and good friend," stated Spek, "I gladly serve under him." Spek took some time to stop squirming under Glenn's gaze and steadied his posture before speaking again. "He requested I give you greetings in his name and to thank you for the many deeds you have done, and have yet to do, for the kingdom."

"To inspire such words," said Glenn formally with respect in his voice, "Sir Crono must truly be a fine knight. I am honored to receive such thanks and relay to him that mine heart is warmed to have the kingdom in hands such as his."

"In any case," Lana interrupted before Spek role-played even more to the scene, "We managed to find some berries and Spek caught two hares." The lanky squire held up the appropriate small woodland creatures in response to Lana's words.

"Would you umm…mind skinning those Spek, I want to practice with my sword for a bit?" Lana asked. She didn't want to admit that skinning dead animals, or doing anything with dead animals, made her squirm. After all, here she was supposed to be some great swords-woman, in Glenn's eyes anyway, and fretting over a rabbit seemed kind of ridiculous.

"As you request, Sir Crono put me under your command until we return to Guardia," said Spek as he took out a small carving knife and went about skinning the critters next to the camp fire. Lana only groaned and rubbed her head in frustration.

"Would thou mind if I watched milady?" asked Glenn, adjusting his sitting position to face her way.

"I'm not that good but feel free to," shrugged Lana, not sure if having one of the greatest swordsmen in history watching her would make her nervous. Instead of focusing on that she tightened the straps on the legs of her shorts and went to tie her hair up, before realizing it was still short from the accident. Annoyed, but not angered, she closed her eyes for a quick moment, centering as she called it, and moved her body into the first stance.

-------------

One would think that in the future, the use of martial weapons would have become obsolete. After all, they had guns of all sorts and varieties; guns that would not only kill you, but disintegrate your body. For most of the world that still held true, martial weapons were relegated to sports or movies; holding more entertainment value than use in combat.

However, perhaps because the founder of the Chronopolis had existed before the advent of firearms, guns were a secondary weapon. All Observers were trained in martial weapons, not only because you weren't allowed to bring guns into a time period not familiar with them, but because it was also a good way to maintain an Observer's physical, and emotional, state. Weapon practice became not a chore, but something that you did everyday to calm down and take a break from the rest of the world. By the time they were full fledged agents, they were experts in their weapons.

This held true even for those applying to become Observers, held true for even Lana Asimari. For she had to contend against magic with her sword, had only that slim piece of metal for use against her enemies. This reliance forced her to not only become an expert at her weapon, but to become her weapon. She was the blade as it cleaved flesh, as it cut air as easily as it could cut opponents, and as it worked around in her stances and forms.

She could be a deadly tornado of blades, a precise strike of piercing metal, a beautiful weaving of steel, a torrent of slashes, or a flowing defense. Neither did she open her eyes, letting her body use its' memory to keep her moving. She didn't need her eyes to tell here where her blade was at, what angle it sat, how close it might have come to striking her own flesh. Lana already knew all those things, had honed her stances and forms into perfection, and her stances and forms switched between one another smoothy.

Glenn watched in silence, enraptured by the complexity of the maneuvers, as Lana danced. He couldn't come to call it fighting, for fighting is not beautiful, is not inspiring, to the frog swordsman; only a cruel necessity. But watching her wakes up a foreign sensation in Glenn, a feeling long held muted by the transformation induced by Magus. All this time there was something about Lana that attracted his attention, his eye, and now he finally realized what it was. She gave him hope again, hope for another day, and hope that things would get better. Glenn didn't know how to categorize the feeling, because the exceptional swordsman had never before fallen in love.


	12. Chapter 12

This is the first chapter with a new feature that I can actually add since I have received a review, YA::drum roll: and the new feature is:

**Space to address reviewers:**

Anonymous: YES, a reviewer besides the friends that I goaded into reading the story. Thank you for the input! Sometimes I think I may try to fight more into less, condensing the story and switching back and forth in perspective, in an effort to advance the story perhaps faster than it should be. I'm beginning to realize though that a lot of story can happen with a lot of things happening or a lot of people being involved. You may notice less and less switching between perspectives as the 3 main characters, Lana, Glenn and Janus, become farther and farther apart in some instances but closer in others. Anyway, I'd like to just say thanks again for the input, enjoy the read!

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Chapter 12: Bargaining with Fate 

The moonlight of the night didn't reach to cover the world in a soft blue glow as it normally did. Instead dark clouds blotted out the moon, plunging the land into a seemingly unnatural darkness. Still, the animals carried on with their nightly lives; the hoots and chirps of birds, the howls of wolves, and the growls of things worse than that. Bushes and trees rustled as a slight breeze blew throughout the forest and valleys beyond, further creating the illusion that the woods were a living animal. By mystic definition any humans that came upon this scene would promptly run away with their tail between their legs, but mystics were made of sterner stuff! The normal infantry of Slash's squad marched stoically on, believing in their leader and the four fearsome fighters that had gathered for this hunt.

With the lightened troop load, and a little help from magic, the squad had reached the woods well before the next morning. While none of them had slept they were all energized and ready for battle, bloodlust some called it, but Slash was proud of the endurance of each mystic here. He just hoped that they found their target before that energy faded; give mystic soldiers too long without killing something and their morale went down faster than a wingless gargoyle.

"It will take some time to search the woodzzz," stated Asrar as the platoon of soldiers made their first steps in the Cursed Woods. The Naga, like most Nagas, had her human body end at her waist and the rest was a snake's tail. Above the scales, she was clothed in a black robe that hid most of her figure, a figure that most Naga's vainly tried to accentuate. Her long purple hair was braided into a complex pattern that, to anyone else, was simply a pretty looking style; in truth it was a complex arcane symbol that, this time, represented the "Fire" spell. Each time she did her hair it was a different rune.

"The trees will make it easier to stay hidden though," commented Shitaki as he silently walked to stand with his Naga companion. His Fang, a combination long sword and saw, was strapped across his back and his grey cloth armor made nary a sound even if he walked across a room on broken twigs. Due to his avian features, chief among them being his feathers, beak, and piercing eyes, no one really knew what facial expression he might be trying to make or even if he made facial expressions. The lack of outside clues made one always assume the swords-bird was deadly serious.

"Bob likes trees," smiled Bob as he trotted past the others and patted a tree on the side, "But Bob likes hiding in trees too." Bob, like most imps, was on the small side, at exactly 3 feet 10 inches, and wore the simple leather armor of a scout. A bandolier, with small throwing knifes, was strapped diagonally across his chest. His green features were as green as the trees leaves and that, coupled with the brown leather armor, gave Bob a good chance of never being seen in these forest environs.

"Let's find something to kill already!" stated Bjarni, punching the nearest tree and leaving a large, fist size, indent. Besides the tattered pants and belt that the gargoyle wore to cover his sun colored skin, he was unarmed and unarmored. The simple white straps that covered his knuckles were worn and brown, attesting to their use and frequent exposure to blood. His wings were nothing more than stubs that protruded from his back, victims of a terrible pit fight long ago. Some legends said gargoyles could turn to stone, but the overly-violent pit fighter seemed like he was stone at all times. Spears, swords, and other sharp instruments of destruction bounced harmlessly off his hide.

"This will indeed take some time," admitted Slash as he caught up to the rest of his group, leaving his horse, and an attendant, at the edge of the woods, "Let's try to make it easier, can you locate him with a spell Asrar?"

"Zzadly no. It izz called the Curzzed woodzzz for a reazzon," stated the Naga sorceresses, "Zzome magiczz don't work, zzome do."

"Bob smells fire," chirped in the imp as he ran and pointed in the direction his nose was leading him, "Maybe they have food."

"I'm sure they do Bob, lead the way," laughed Slash as Bob took off at a trot through the woods, followed closely by the rest of the soldiers. Though the fire was not at all visible, or the smoke for that matter, Slash had learned long ago to trust in the imp's finely tuned senses. Perhaps that was the only reason the general included the childlike Bob in his group, it might also be the fact that he killed just as good as any of them. In any case, if there was fire then that meant something human was nearby; mystics weren't dumb enough to keep a fire burning throughout the night as a beacon to predators.

"Finally, something to kill," simply stated Bjarni, a small smile plastering his face, and for once Slash found himself in agreement with his violent companion. He was looking forward to killing that annoying frog.

-------

Lana finished the last form, eyes still closed, and slowly let her breath out as she sheathed her sword back in its' plain scabbard. The other memories that inhabited her head had, for the time, become quiet. The exercise had again, like many times before, calmed her mind and pushed all her worries away. All except one, handling the sword again brought back the cold sensation of the hermit she'd killed. Never before had the sword actually been a weapon to her, equipment in a fast paced sport perhaps, but now every strike and slash brought to mind bloody gashes.

Turning around to the silent Spek, who currently was roasting the hares on a spit over the small fire, she noticed that Glenn had fallen asleep during her practice. A knowing wink from the shape-shifter as she sat down made her think that perhaps the knight hadn't gone to dream land on his own volition.

"Simple sleep spell does wonders," chirped in Spek as Lana sat down, "The food should be almost done."

"That's good," sighed Lana, placing her sheathed sword across her lap, "Feels like I've ran around the Chronopolis several times."

"Your practice seemed different than normal, not sloppy or anything just….," shrugged Spek, "Just different I guess."

"Every time I hold my katana now all I can think about is that it's a weapon meant to kill," explained Lana, sliding the sword partially out of the sheath to let the firelight play across the blade, "Yet when I practice it still feels like an extension of myself, another part of me. It doesn't feel like a weapon."

"That sounds deep," chirped up Spek before bringing a stick of roasted hare to Lana, "Right now though I need to know what's going on. Start at the beginning and tell me everything that's happened between then and now."

"I'd like to say the beginning was at the Chronopolis when I vanished from Janus," said Lana, taking a bite out of the roasted meat, "but I don't think that's right. I think this started a long time ago, we just didn't notice it till now."

"Well, try to explain what you can and we'll leave the history to those old farts at the station," urged Spek, absently looking out into the dark forest that surrounded them.

"Have you ever heard of the Black Wind?" asked Lana, the question brought a small nod from Spek as he returned his stare back to the young mage-hunter.

"Janus told me about it, though I think he told me the melodramatic version," stated the shape-shifter.

"I too can hear the Black Wind, I heard it when Glenn was attacked," explained Lana, "Then IT sent me back here to save him, I think."

"That doesn't make any sense, how can you hear the black wind and how could you have heard it when frog died? We are in a station that is separate from any one time period, there should be no relation between time here and time there," Spek argued, Lana simply shrugged, "And what do you mean by 'IT' controlling you?"

"I really don't know why I can hear the Black Wind, I believe it's linked to my ability to see aura's, but then again I'm no mage so I don't have the slightest clue," explained Lana with a shrug, "The best I can describe it really is being used, like someone just comes and jumps into my body and uses me for what it needs and then jumps out. I'm still in it though, I can see and hear everything that's happening, but I just can't stop it. It's more than that though, sometimes I just know things. Before, whenever I tried to question IT all it did was make me feel confident again. Like suddenly I had faith in IT, for no reason at all"

Lana tried to explain to Spek but by the end of it she was just frustrated by the lack of details she could explain. Instead of continuing she simply snapped her sword fully back into its' sheath and sighed, "It's like someone is messing with my body, my mind, and my feelings. Everything it does is out of my control, and it's pissing me off."

"Maybe I should go first after all," stated Spek after he heard Lana's confession, "Well, in a nutshell, Janus and myself came back to rescue you from being kill by another team of Observers sent here."

"I don't think they could kill me if they wanted to," stated Lana with dull eyes, remembering what had happened to the last person that had tried, "But why would they want to?"

"Belthasar sent back a secret team of Observers to rescue Frog from his attackers, their orders were to kill anyone else from the station they saw in order to keep their secrecy," explained Spek.

"His names Glenn, not frog," simply stated Lana, glancing at Glenn's sleeping form across the fire-pit, "And where's Janus at? He isn't hiding back in the woods scowling at us from a distance is he?"

"Well I'd hope not," laughed Spek, turning around and looking into the darkness just-in-case, "He went off on some other task, I think he means to go kill whatever it is that attacked frog in the first place. Seemed real angsty about it, like it was his fault or something. Anyways, our dear wizard said he'd find us once done."

"I won't be done till Glenn is healed again, you know that right?" Lana asked, "I certainly hope Janus knows some healing spells if he wants me to get out of here anytime this month. I don't think IT will let me leave otherwise."

"Man," sighed Spek, exasperated at his overly serious student, "There you go talking like Janus, like there's some kind of entity guiding all this."

"Can you really say there isn't?" asked the mage-hunter, poking the fire with a large stick, "I'd think that the past few days would be enough to convince you."

"It certainly convinced me," she said softly, hugging her legs to the rest of her body while continuously prodding the fire.

"So am I in trouble at the station then?" asked Lana finally.

"Don't worry about that till we get back to the station," stated Spek, "Besides, some remodeling should be going on while were away and the place might be under new management when we get back."

"That so…," softly spoke Lana, throwing her prodding stick in the fire to join its' flaming brethren. Something Spek had said to Glenn earlier sparked a question in the young mage-hunters mind, "What was with that part about saying you were Crono's squire anyway?"

"Don't worry he won't put two and two together, besides it's a few years yet till they meet one another," said Spek, trying to push her worries aside.

"But what if..," asked Lana as she turned towards the smiling squire, who interrupted the worrying observer-in-training with a shushing sound.

"I'll worry about that, you on the other hand should get some sleep," stated Spek, his voice covered in magic as it reached Lana's ears, "You need it kid."

"Damn spell casters….," mumbled Lana before her curled frame was silently sleeping. Spek simply smiled and leaned back against the outside of the cave. It was going to be a long night and someone had to stand guard, just in case. He'd get his explanation tomorrow, there wasn't any rush.

--------

"How do you feel Janus?" asked Schala as she bent down over the young prince. Janus blankly looked back up at his sister, staring into her deep blue pools of blue, not exactly sure why she was asking about his state of being. Being the younger of the two, of lower ranking, he was obliged to report it none the less.

"I'm fine Schala," he responded blankly before realizing he was lying in his comfy feather filled bed. Lying in such a comfy bed was not the problem, after all it was hard to find fault with such a relaxing resting place; the problem was that he remembered walking through the Azura garden only moments ago. Turning his head to the side and looking out the window he spotted the setting sun. Moments ago it had been midday out.

"Schala, what happened?" asked the young boy, still too perplexed to rise from the bed. Schala plopped down on the bed next to him and fiddled with his long blue hair before answering.

"It's probably time for an explanation," Schala sighed as she nervously rubbed the back of her neck, "You know how you've been blacking out like this Janus?" she asked, grabbing him under each arm and lifting him up to sit in her lap.

"Mmm hmm," nodded the prince, remembering days when it seemed the whole day would go by without him having gone through it.

"Well, you know how I sometimes have black outs?" Schala continued, combing Janus' hair as she talked. Janus nodded, but not enough to disturbed the combing.

"Well, we are special Janus," she started before turning him around to face her, "We get to help people."

"Help people?" repeated Janus, still unsure how blacking out the whole day helped anything.

"Here, let me show you," said Schala as she hefted the young boy off of her lap and onto the floor, "It's outside so you have to walk alittle, are you feeling well enough to do that?"

"I'm fine," responded the boy before following Schala as she grabbed his hand and led the way. Down the marble staircases, paste the plush purple carpet pathways, passing by the scholars and servants, down a short path from the palace that was little used by anyone else, until they reached the Azura garden that had, in the past, attracted many a visitor. Beneath the small hill sat lake Azura, also lending its' name to the garden, where the waters of Zeal would make a gravity induced journey to the surface of the world.

In the garden there was a place for each plant that existed on the planet, or only on Zeal. Wild ferns, giant oak trees, a small group of pine trees, a variety of exotic flowers. Many stories told of how the first King of Zeal created many of the plants and flowers that now bloomed regularly here, and throughout the magical kingdom. There were still empty plots of land as Zeal was, if anything, open to having more of a good thing. Eventually, if another flower was to be made the inhabitants hoped that it would first make its' appearance at their collection.

"I don't see anything," stated Janus as Schala lead them through the garden, or 'The Plant Collection' as it was often called by the small prince.

"That's because we aren't there silly," laughed Schala. At the back of the garden, where Janus most liked to visit due to the lack of people, there were several empty plots still awaiting plants. Each was a five foot by five foot square that was sectioned off from the other squares with a small raised concrete barrier that was about 3 inches tall and went down 3 feet into the earth. In one of the empty stalls however was a small black flower, barely blooming but just enough that the black petals could be seen. It was a small thing, barely 2 inches out of the ground, and there was only one of them. But Janus had never seen a black flower before.

"You created that flower," said Schala as she pointed at the small flora, "created a new plant all together. When it gets older who knows what it could be."

"That's stupid," stated Janus as he bent over to stare closer at his flower, "I don't even like flowers."

"Since it's yours, what do you want to name it," asked Schala as she bent down to examine it with Janus, "It's real pretty."

"I don't like flowers," pouted Janus again with a frown, "You name it."

"Ok," laughed Schala, standing up and putting her hand to her chin in a thoughtful act, "I think I'll name it after my little grouchy brother."

"You can't name it Janus," stated the prince, "That's my name, and I'm not a useless flower."

"Flower's aren't useless," scolded Schala, "You really should name it, it is your flower after all," said Schala as she rubbed the prince's head playfully, "Think about it, naming something is an important thing. The name reflects what it will become, if you name it something nice then it's sure to become a nice flower."

"I don't know any flower names!" fussed the prince, "I don't like flowers anyway."

"Well, think on it a bit," said the princess, "But promise me you won't forget about it."

"I promise, I promise," pouted Janus before looking away, "How does a stupid flower help people anyway?"

"I don't know," admitted Schala, "But little things add up to make something big after enough time. Maybe one day it'll give someone hope, or maybe it has some property that can heal sickness."

"I don't like making flowers," stomped Janus as the two royal family members walked away, "Why do we black out Schala?"

"Well, like I said, we are special. You know how seers can see the future?" asked Schala, "Well, it's kind of backwards for us. Time uses us to create the future."

"I don't understand," stated Janus. The two exited the garden and stopped at a street side vendor to buy some chocolate filled scones.

"I'm sorry, I'm not very good at explaining it. There are countless books on it in the library, why not take a look at them. Maybe they can explain it better," stated Schala as they stopped on a bench next to the walkway.

"I don't wanna!" pouted Janus.

"Stubborn boy," said Schala ruffling the prince's hair, "You want to help people right?"

"Ya..," mumbled the prince.

"Promise me you'll go to the library one day and read up on it," requested Schala as she finished eating her scone.

"Fine, fine, I promise," pouted the prince again, "Can I go to Enhasa now? Masa and Mune want to play again."

"Fine, run along," Schala jokingly chided, "Just promise me you won't become one of the sleeping scholars there."

"Argh, more promises," pouted the prince again, "I promise."

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The campsite was just up ahead. They were close enough now to see the fire light that leaked through the trees. First, regular troops would be sent to test the defenses and, if they proved tough enough, the general and his Four would lay waste to whatever was left.

"I don't know why we don't just charge in there," complained Bjarni aloud, not loud enough to carry too far but loud enough to earn him a reprimanding look from Slash.

"It izzz not wize to ruzzh an opponent without firzzt zztudying them," stated Asrar, beating the general to his own words.

"But what if they finish them off without any problems, then we don't get to kill anything," argued the pit fighter.

"Bob like gargoyle," stated Bob, jumping out of a tree and landing next to the group, "Bob likes to bash things too, can Bob go bash things now?"

"Silence, both of you!" hushed the free lancer, throwing both a serious look before glancing to their leader, "That is not your decision to make, follow the general and follow your orders."

"By magus," sighed Bjarni, "Fine, fine lets send them in already. If they kill everyone though I'm going to be right pissed."

"I'll somehow live with that," stated Slash with little humor in his voice. Mimicking the chirping of a bird native to most of the Guardia region, he signaled the group of eight mystics to proceed with the attack. In total there were four heavy infantry goblins, 2 spear carrying henchmen, and 2 more henchmen with swords and shields. In theory the goblins would keep the forces busy and the henchmen with the spears could pick out those that tried to either escape the four goblins or attempted to flank them. Meanwhile the two other henchmen would defend their spear carrying charges and take attacks of opportunity as needed.

Slowly his forces crept forward, moving as quietly and as cautiously as they could. Minutes passed before his forces breached the tree line and then went charging forward. The goblins shouted vicious war cries and the two shield carrying henchmen banged on their shields with their swords, the hope of all this sudden noise was to confuse and frighten the enemy. Slash smiled, "See Magus, you don't need an entire army to kill one frog."

One of the humans picked itself off the ground, or at least Slash thought it was human, then, suddenly, the fire went out. The war cries turned to cries of terror, of pain, and soon became desperate howls. One by one he counted eight bodies hit the floor. Slash squinted his eyes to hopefully obtain a glance whatever had killed his force so effective. The only thing he saw though was more darkness. Without the human's camp fire he could just see his four companions, barely, and wondered if any of them felt hesitant in attacking now.

"Yes!" shouted Bjarni, ruining whatever stealth they still might have had, "Our turn!"

"Can Bob go bash things now?" asked the small mystic with a look that could have melted even Magus' cold heart…well maybe not.

"Asrar, the usual castings please," ordered Slash as their sorceress did her best to make the fighters as deadly as possible. A casting of haste and protect would ensure that they were not only faster, but would stay on their feet a bit longer. Add in a spell to see in the dark and they were ready to go.

"Well, there's no time like the present," commented the general, "CHARGE!" With that, Slash and his Four ran head first into yet again another battle.

----------

"Lana! Lana!" screamed Spek, though the sound was rather muted to the mage-hunter. Then someone was shaking her, "Lana! Lana! Are you ok!?"

It was Spek again, still shouting, and it occurred to her that she should probably say something, anything, to push aside whatever the shape-shifter was concerned about. Instead she brushed Spek away and tried standing, pushing herself off of the ground with her sword once she found her legs to weak to stand on her own. Once she was shakily standing, sword still in hand, she took a moment to regard the situation.

"When did I grab my sword?" Lana thought aloud. Her body felt sore and she felt like she was covered all over with someone's spit. Don't tell me Glenn slurped me some more, moaned Lana to herself. Maybe that was producing the strange smell, slightly more metallic than anything. Looking around for Glenn she realized the fire must have gone out because she could barely see the concerned face of Spek as he was studying her.

"I hath found the 'spark stick' you spoke of," called out Glenn a few feet away, sending Spek hurrying off in his direction after he ripped his eyes from Lana, "How doth such a stick produce fire?"

"It's complicated," said Spek as he grabbed the stick from Glenn. Lighting it off and tossing it into the fire pit, the clearing was once again lit.

"Spekki…I mean Spek what happe….," stated Lana but stopped as the clearing was once again bathed in orange fire light.

There were holovids at the Chronopolis that depicted some of the larger battles of the past wars, letting the visitor stand about all the bloody and gory scenes. Lana's brain numbly attached itself to those instances as she stood in the blood covered clearing. Splashes of the stuff were thrown about haphazardly, tainting the grass, bushes, tress, and even her body. Looking down at her clothes and bare arms and legs she realized that the sticky feeling she was feeling was still wet blood. From her perspective, it appeared as if nothing had been spared the touch of the red liquid of life.

Slowly, as if in some kind of sick nightmare, she felt her face and hair and came away with more blood on her hands than she had before. Looking down at her sword, she noticed that blood drops where still dripping from it. The metal at the Chronopolis was made in such a way that nothing ever stained it, blood and other liquids simply ran off. Despite the blood, the smell was even worse; blood with exposed intestines and emptied mystic bladders all combined into one gut retching stench.

The smell, with the pictures, was too much and Lana fell to her hands and knees to retch up the small meal she'd been able to eat today. That only combined with the already sickening smell and she couldn't stop throwing up, even when nothing but dry heaves came out. In between heaves she tried to ask questions, tried to yell and scream, and even tried to cry. She couldn't do any of those until, after many minutes had passed, she finally gave one final retch and collapsed on the ground, narrowly avoiding her own vomit.

"Milady!" cried out Glenn as he attempted to move with his injuries, "Spek, do not let her lie else she chokes on any other offending retching." Spek quickly did as Glenn commanded and also dragged the tired mage-hunter back to the center of the camp. Somehow, she noted while being dragged, the circle around the fire pit was bloodless. She also noted that neither of them had blood covering their faces or bodies.

"What happened?" softly asked Lana once she was sitting somewhat upright against the back of the cave.

"These mystic soldiers just charged from the trees and then the fire went out," explained Spek, "I ran to cover Glenn and I could hear battle in the background. After that, well, you can see the results on the ground. You managed to kill all of them without getting cut once. Or at least I think so, there's too much blood on you to tell whose it is."

"It wasn't me," said Lana weakly. Looking around from her position it was horrible, these mystics weren't just killed they had been disfigured and then killed. Simply eyeing the ground she could spot organs that had found their way away from their owner. In other places heads stared blankly up, devoid of any body attached below them, and Lana imagined if she looked into their eyes that an accusing glare would look back. This wasn't fighting, wasn't killing either, it was butchering.

"I'm pretty sure that it was, I mean look at you and your sword and then the ground…," stated Spek, now acting more and more like Spekkio and less like the meek squire he'd been impersonating, "Just putting two and two together."

"I said it wasn't me," stated Lana with fire in her eyes as she shook her head back and forth, only sending more bloody drops flying, "It couldn't have been me!" This time her statement was followed by tears instead as she pulled her legs close to her body and, having something to hide her face in, sobbed without wanting to.

"Milady, tiss alright now," stated Glenn, weakly patting her on the shoulder a few times and letting it rest there, "I again thank thee for defending mine body while it heals. Thou only did what was needed."

"Did I?" asked Lana between sobs, before pulling her head out and looking at Glenn in the eyes with her own tear filled gaze, "You've seen battlefields before, how many look like this?"

"All battlefields look the same lass," softly spoke the knight, "Tiss the nature of battle."

"It wasn't me though," sobbed Lana again, "It's not right!" Again she had been used, this time though she couldn't even remember what she had done. The proof of what it was though covered the forest grounds and Lana couldn't believe she'd been the one to commit such butchery. If only she understood what was going on, what was controlling her, then she could figure out a way to stop it. Then the words of the dream, nay the memory, came to her.

"_There are countless books on it in the library, why not take a look at them."_

"Of course!" Lana exclaimed inwardly, "Zeal's the answer. It always has been, Schala was from Zeal, Janus too, and she found a way to neutralize it. Maybe it's in one of their books." She was tired of being used; it was time for her to return the favor.

"Give me my sword Spekkio," said Lana coldly after wiping the remaining tears from her face, gaining an odd glance from both Glenn and Spekkio. The shape-shifter did as asked though and again Lana had her spotless katana back in her hands. Using it as a crutch to stand up, she shakily walked into the middle of the field, still disgusted at what she'd done, and pointed the sword in at her own heart.

"Lana!" exclaimed both Glenn and Spekkio.

"Listen whatever you are!" shouted the frightened mage-hunter, not sure if her plan would work or if she'd end up a skewered on her own sword.

"I know you need me and want me alive, well I want answers!" continued Lana, "Maybe you can't, or won't, tell me but I know where I can get them. I also know you can make time portals! You either give me a portal to Zeal, by the count of five, or I'm going to end whatever plans you had for me by falling on my own blade!"

"Lana, who are you talking to!" yelled Spekkio as he rushed over to her.

"Spekkio, stay back!" yelled the mage-hunter, "Stay back or so help me I'll plunge this right through my chest." The shape-shifter halted his advancement and slowly walked back towards the cave, keeping his eyes always on Lana.

"One," counted Lana aloud. A warm, good, feeling started spreading into her mind. It told her not to do this and that she really didn't want to go to Zeal.

"Stop screwing with me!" shouted Lana as she struggled to hold on to her conviction. She brought to mind the dead hermit, his lifeless eyes as he feel quickly to her blade, brought to mind the burning house of her parents, thought about the sorrow that Glenn must have felt at Cryus' death; she brought to mind the anger that it caused in her and she hurled this back at the warm feeling. The fury, the anger, gave her enough strength to bring the katana closer into her chest, drawing a small amount of blood and halting the invading feelings.

"Try that again and I'll do it," stated Lana with undisguised anger in her words, "Don't test me! I don't plan on being in Zeal long, after that then do with me what you will. I need answers though, I'll either get them or die trying." The feeling backed down, still present in a small corner of her mind but it wasn't getting any bigger or any more invasive.

"Two," she continued, tears welling in her eyes, "Three." The mage-hunter was seriously starting to doubt this idea but the alternative was to live a life being controlled whenever it suited IT's purpose. If five came around and there was no portal, it was better to die now than possibly hurt, or kill, something else.

"Four!" This was it, the last number, after this she'd either be dead or on or way to the answers she needed; the answers she wanted.

"Five," she said and drew back, preparing to push it in true. That was when it appeared, quickly the air snapped and popped around the group sending small particles flying and brightening the clearing in a red radiance. Soon space and time parted, allowing a glowing red portal to appear directly in front of the risky mage-hunter.

Lana blinked, surprised that it had actually worked and thankful at the same time. Turning back around to find Spekkio and Glenn staring slack jawed at the portal, she sheathed her sword and stumbled back to the two.

"Lana, do you have any idea what you are doing?" practically screamed the shape-shifter, his arms wide in the air and his voice back to the Spekkio normal.

"No, but I intend to find out," confidently said Lana as she grabbed her traveling pack and stopped next to Glenn.

"Milady, I doth not know what truly hath transpired here but I have one request. I wouldst like to travel with you," seriously stated Glenn as he shakily grabbed one of her arms, "Mine burden seems slightly easier to bear with thine company."

"I was planning on taking you anyway," stated Lana as she hoisted the injured amphibian on her back, "They got healers in Zeal and we should be able to fix you right up."

"Whaaaaaaaaa!" yelled Spekkio, reverting back to his true state, "You can't be serious, there is no way you are going to Zeal, especially with the frog, and that is final." With that the shape-shifter crossed his arms in a that's-that fashion.

"Spekkio," pleaded Lana as she walked to stand in front of him, "I need this."

"Do you have any idea what this will do to the time stream? Do you?" yelled back Spekkio, "No, we can erase the Frog's memory and put things to right. We'll go back to the Chronopolis without Janus, but we are not going to Zeal."

Lana paused, her conviction wavering with the evidence that Spekkio had presented. Observers weren't suppose to change history but keep it on the path they'd found it on when the Chronopolis had been created. She wasn't an Observer yet but the principles of keeping time in order had been ingrained into her for years on end, she had been raised on a time station after all. If the past was dramatically changed, then the present would cease to exist.

The bodies of the hermit, of the mystic warriors, still haunted her eyes though. What if next time it was Spekkio, Janus, or the friends she'd made on the Chronopolis? Lana had to do this, for herself, and for those around her. Strangely the invasive emotions fueled her on, took the worry that Spekkio had planted inside her head and threw it away. If the mage-hunter still existed then obviously the future must still be the same; her existence was proof that it was okay.

"Sorry Spekkio," Lana said with real sadness in her eyes, "This is one time when I can't follow your orders," as she said it she quickly dropped to one knee and rammed upward with her head as she could, sending the shape-shifter stumbling back. The attack stunned Spekkio, amazed that she'd do such a thing and how strong of a head butt that had been given her condition. His stunned amazement had been enough, for the two were gone and the time portal quickly closed.

Seconds after the red sparks died and the clearing was once again lit by only the fire, the Nu walked from the buses, still humming and marching, and stopped once he got to Spekkio's still stunned form. "So did I miss anything?"

-----------

The blade had been fast, impossibly so, and Slash and his group had never stood a chance against it. They had been a group of babes in a battle, guaranteed a quick death at best and a slow one at worst. It wasn't the blade that startled the battle hardened general, rather her eyes. There was something…inhuman behind them, something that reminded Slash of the days he would look up into the starts and wonder what lay beyond. Of the helplessness he felt beneath the crushing infinity of the unknown.

"_It is not your time to die yet General Slash"_

The voice replayed over and over in his head, a voice that bore down on him with the past, present, and future. In it he saw his past, his childhood of growing up and managing with his keen insight in battle and quick mind. Saw the present, a reflection of his beaten and bloody form. Finally the future as he died in battle against the enemies of Magus.

_You have things still left to accomplish, deeds to do and history to make._

There would come a time when the past would catch up to him; a time when a group of humans would ally with the frog and kill him. Not only him, remembered Slash, they would kill all that the mystics had fought for. Had those been real images, or ones implanted through magic? Was there any point in continuing to fight if he already knew when he would die?

_Continue your role so that all those in the future have a brighter place to live, human and mystic alike._

If he didn't what then would happen? How could advancing Magus' goals bring about a brighter future for mystics AND humans? Should he trust the strange girl, the strange girl that held the universe in her eyes and time in her voice? Could he do any less than continue on?

Slash didn't know the answers to that, had never thought to the future, and the thinking was foreign to the mystic General. He did however know that doing nothing would get him nowhere; he'd have to find the answers for himself. He only hoped that Magus would let him live long enough to do so. Thinking on it again, Slash knew that he would not die by Magus' hand, knew he would die by no other hand till that appointed day.

"After all", reasoned the general as he walked on his way out of the forest, blood on his uniform and the future on his mind, "It's not my time to die yet."


	13. Chapter 13

Hello and welcome back to the story! Sorry for the longer-than-I'd-like-between-updates wait. The next chapter should, hopefully, be a bit quicker in coming. That is if everything with my move back to the US works out as planned. Anyway, a little bit about what the future plan is. You may have noticed our two main MAIN characters have truly become separated, so much so that I am also splitting the story into two arcs until they once again rejoin one another to lead to the conclusion.

The first is Lana's visit to Zeal, titled "Trouble in Paradise" and there will be 3 or 4 parts to that in total. I hope to answer some questions that alot of people have about Zeal. It's a good chance for me to spin my own theory about how things got to the state they did. Why was the Queen mad for power? What happened to the King? Why was the Sun Stone sealed?

After that we'll cover Janus, his side titled "Old Habits Die Hard." I'm not going to say anything about this but suffice to say that I think it will surprise quite a few of you.

A few of you may fume at the split, hopefully not too many of you :), but I think it will work well. These may be a bit longer than the normal chapters I have, think of them kind of a mini-series within a series. Let me know how you like it, or even dislike it, in a opinion (lol, didn't I say I wasn't going to ask for any more of those) Anyway, enjoy the trip!

"**Trouble in Paradise"**

**Part 1: Welcome to Zeal**

---//

"Sire, the report you requested has arrived," stated the King's personal servant, a young mageling with short blonde hair and wearing the dark green robe issued to the castle staff. The King turned his head from the veranda view that overlooked his kingdom and smiled slightly, "Well send him in then."

The youth bowed and then left in a hurry, after all the entrance to the king's room was two floors down and through several doors. Minutes later the heavy footfalls of Belthasar could be heard climbing up the last set of stairs that lead to the porch. The king could already hear his heavy breathing from the physical strain, too much time in the laboratory, and his smirk grew even larger.

"My liege," reported the middle-aged Guru as he at last reached the porch the king was standing on. His brown hair was well kempt and his goatee pointed out from his chin like a jagged rock. In his hands was clutched a small blue stone that ebbed a sapphire light. Belthasar brought up his hand, the one holding the gem, and presented it to the king, "Here are the latest readings sire."

King Zeal looked at the stone with mixed feelings, it was going to tell him something he already knew but none-the-less still needed to confirm. Even if the stone denied what his instincts were telling him, he knew it was only delaying the inevitable. Taking up the blue stone with a gloved hand, the king closed his eyes and took a moment to extract the data from the magical link. When he opened them again, he knew he'd been right.

"It may just be a fluctuation sire," explained Belthasar stiffly.

"No my friend," sighed the king tiredly, "I can feel it upon the air and deep down in my bones. Prepare for the ceremony then, it shall take place within the week."

"But sire!" exclaimed the guru with emotion showing in his voice, "What about the Mammom Machine? I'm sure we can finish it before then. Already this week we found another stone with great potential!"

"The Sun Stone must be recharged, whatever the cost," explained the king with steel in his voice, "I will not let my kingdom fall to the ground with those earthbounds, I will not let all that our people have built over the millennia crumble to dust because of a false hope. Inform the others, no one is to speak of this publicly of course." With a weary smile he looked out the window, as if confirming the magical kingdom was still in existence, before addressing the guru again, "We were the ones that brought our people to the skies and we must be the ones that pay the price."

"Very well my liege," bowed Belthasar, with many a thing left unsaid, before stiffly turning and marching off in a huff. The king simply sighed and returned to his view of the kingdom of Zeal. Another perfect day in the perfect kingdom, remarked the king inwardly as the bright sun shone upon the colorful floating continent, and I will ensure it is preserved.

---

Lana stumbled from the time portal not exactly sure who would be here to great her, if anyone, or if perhaps she'd been led into a situation that might result in her imminent death. Lucky for her about the worst that could happen at this moment in Zeal was for the wind to pick up. Before she could regain her wits from the sudden scenery shift, a pocket-watch was shoved into her face. Only later would she realize it was a pocket watch though, at the moment it was only a strange contraption with too many dials, buttons, and numbers. With the watch came a rough, sand-paper quality, voice.

"You're late," grumbled the voice somewhere behind the watch that was still in held in her face. Instead of removing the provoking time piece, the rough voice continued to hold it there as if it expected the mage-hunter to make sense of the confusing measurements on the many faces. Around the largest face, that took up the entirety of the disk, were numbers that lined the edges, one started at the top and it ended at forty eight, with smaller circles, lined by other numbers, enclosed inside of the larger one. Each had one hand, sometimes two, that seemed to move without rhyme or reason in relation to each other, as if each was keeping track of something totally unrelated to the other.

Before the swordswoman could protest, comment, or even express confusion the pocket watch was removed and stored back under the heavy white long sleeve shirt the old man wore. Over that he wore a pair of startlingly bright blue overalls that somehow managed to look kingly, with patterns woven throughout and gems embedded in through the bands that lopped up over his shoulders. Over both, perhaps to protect it from whatever work he was employed, was a heavy brown smock, much like blacksmiths used to wear Lana noted, that was covered with all varieties of colored stains. Topping it all off was a large, white, bushy mustache that covered his mouth and remained the only hair on his otherwise bald head. Above the white bush poked out two stark, black, eyes that measured up everything, and everyone, that it looked at.

Behind the strangely dressed man Lana noticed the marble castle of Zeal atop its' lonely mountain, looking down on the kingdom like a giant protector. The air was clear and crisp, rogue high-flying clouds skirted the atmosphere, and she could see the sun sparkle off of the Azura lake in the distance. Some buildings floated in the air above Zeal, tethered with simple chains or magic restraints, and even though she couldn't cast a spell she could taste the magic in the air.

"You're late," repeated the old man again, dragging the mage-hunter's attention back to him, and then paused, "and you're also a mess." The following disapproving grunt reminded her briefly of Janus, "At least you've got a sword." Again he surprised the mage-hunter and she barely had time to react before he walked closer and grabbed her sword, sheath and all, right out of her hands. Turning around and pulling the weapon out, he walked away while studying the length of the blade as a physician might study a patient.

"Who…what…where...why?", stuttered Lana before regaining some bearing, "Wait a minute, what are you doing with my sword?!" At last making a grab for the old man's arm as he walked away, the codger simply stepped to the side but otherwise continued to ignore her. The mage-hunter overshot her lunge and almost fell face forward if not for Glenn providing a counter balance at the last second as he leaned sharply back in her grasp. The failed attempt didn't shatter her resolve and she started after the old man again but stopped after Glenn offered a nugget of sound advice.

"Tiss no need for further chase," stated the frog-knight softly, "There are times for battle, and other times to put away your steel. His manner doth not preempt any harm to thee." The frog-knight was right of course, but the events of the past few days had put her on an edge that leaned toward paranoia. Enemies could lurk anywhere, or so it felt. Luckily she had the frog-knight's counsel, his experience in knowing when, and when not to, fight. Taking a calming breath she took a look at the odd man's aura to confirm her amphibious companion's advice, just in case.

The old man's aura was patterned and orderly, resembling a chess board, with squares constantly moving and shifting like those puzzle games she'd seen in the holo-rooms. It was circled in a brilliant icy blue ring, informing Lana that his foremost element was Ice, and if she went by the intensity of the light given off from the ring then he was powerful enough to give Spekkio a good fight. She didn't feel any anger or hate emanating from his oddly ordered aura. It didn't mean he wasn't an enemy, but it did mean that he at least did wish them harm. Satisfied Lana snapped back from her ethereal view just as the old man grumbled something and turned back around.

"Seen better," he grunted before walking back to the swordswoman. Without warning, or permission, the old man grabbed a hold of her right shoulder and Lana felt the cool touch of magic cover her from head to toe. Thinking that perhaps he meant to heal her, or at least use a spell to clean her up, she resisted the first impulse to push away. Instead he kept his grip and the energy that was covering her continued to build. Soon it felt as if a thousand tiny pins were lightly pricking her, then the pricks turned into stabs as the pain continued to build.

"Let go!" the mage-hunter exclaimed as she tried to pull away, judging from Glenn's groaning he was also feeling the same steady pain she was. It wasn't enough to disable her, yet. The grip of the old man was rock solid though, her attempts at escape didn't even cause his hand to shift. Yet the pain continued to increase and Lana grimaced to keep her actions in check, she could feel Glenn's grip tighten and noticed that she'd gripped him harder as well.

At last the old man looked up into Lana's eyes and spoke, his voice still rocky and rough like sandpaper, "The teleport might tingle a bit," the energy pulsed once, the pain vanished, and they were gone.

----//

Just as quickly as they'd vanished the trio reappeared, the open plains of Zeal replaced with the comforts and essentials of a home. It appeared to be constructed out of hardwood instead of the white marble that Lana had come to associate with all Zeal architecture. A domed ceiling loomed high above and the top was clear glass instead of wood, letting in an abundance of sunlight during the day and at night probably gave a beautiful view of the stars. Book shelves lined the walls, though papers poked out every which way from every tome. He was either a scholarly type or perhaps just liked to read.

Before she could take in more a door to the left, there was another directly across the room from it Lana noted, opened and admitted what must have been his house keeper, or perhaps wife. Like most enlightened ones her features were flawless, any blemishes taken care of with magic during childhood, but her blue eyes seemed friendly and without the haughtiness found in most of the Zeal populace. The blue hair that topped her head was slightly darker than her sky blue eyes and was pulled back into a bun, then stylized to resemble a burning fan of flames that poked out from behind her head like peacock feathers. She wore a simple white dress that hugged her upper-body and flowed out at the waist till in reach her ankles, with small patterns of floral arrangements embossed in seemingly random places. Her feet were bare except for the slim gold ankle bracelets, each set with a single small emerald, which tinged against one another whenever she walked. Compared to the old man's rough manner, she was probably the exact opposite.

"Verse, this one needs a bath," stated the mage as he quickly grabbed Glenn off of Lana's back before giving her a hearty shove towards the open door. The mage-hunter stumbled awkwardly then promptly turned around, no one was going to simply take the frog-knight from her, and gave the old man a scowl Janus would have been proud of.

"He'll be fine," gruffly sighed the man in an oh-come-on kind of expression, "Now go." Lana looked to Glenn, hung like a cat by the nape of his neck, and the frog-knight returned her gaze and gave a nod in the direction of Verse. That was apparently all the prompting the old man needed and a quick flip of his hand, and a simple spell, briskly turned the mage-hunter around and sent her skidding through the opened doors. When Lana turned around once more, Glenn and the strange old man were gone.

"Come now child, let's clean you up", smiled Verse as she gracefully walked into the room and shut the door.

------//

"This is the life," sighed the weary mage-hunter twenty minutes later as she enjoyed, in her humble opinion, the best bath of her entire life. Despite all her attempts to avoid being cajoled by the kind and pleasant Verse, the woman had simply not take no for an answer. Lana almost felt sorry for the Zealian, she'd put up a good amount of fuss and fight before she'd been willing to even consider taking her offered assistance. After all she'd come to Zeal to find out what was controlling her, not to take a bath. The bath though, made her rethink that previous statement; being covered in blood and sweat wasn't exactly something she liked to prolong. After Lana finally, reluctantly, agreed to be cleaned, and after a few buckets of water had been dumped over her head to wash away most of the blood, Verse left the room to leave the mage-hunter to herself.

Sunlight filtered in through the glass roof of the dome, though smaller than the main hall they'd come from, and the light made the water-covered granite basin sparkle. The air was warm enough that she'd been able to comfortably walk unclothed and the wooden floor also appeared to hold enchantments as it was comfortable to her bare feet. In the middle of the pool/bath was a small island of stone with a lone palm tree to provide shade from the suns rays. The scene was so relaxing and peaceful that the mage-hunter couldn't help but lay back and close of eyes. So relaxing that Verse had managed to reenter the room and join Lana in the bath with the swordswoman noticing until the kindly Zealian spoke up.

"Thankfully you've taken my offer, the whole blood and sweet look just didn't fit you," stated Verse with just a hint of tease in her voice, "Or smell very good for that matter." Even though she'd been caught unaware Lana forced herself to continue lounging in the water. The mage-hunter was going to force her nerves to calm down and trust the Zealian woman; anyone trying to kill her probably wouldn't be giving her a bath.

"I'm sorry," said the mage-hunter after a few moments of enjoying the thorough soaking. Regretfully bringing her partially-submerged head out of the water and facing Verse, "I'm glad you dragged me in, even if I was kicking and screaming."

"You're welcome," smiled Verse, her perfect white teeth shining like the water that sparkled around them, "Simply here to help. Speaking of that, would you like some help with your back? I noticed the wounds when you were stripping, some simple magic and it should be good as new." Lana was tempted to quickly switch over and spy on her aura but stopped short.

"Yes… please," nervously responded Lana with a bit of hesitance in her voice. Being her first time in a public bath, and unaware of any kind of customs or etiquette of such a place, she nervously presented her injured flank. Closing her eyes and letting the feeling of the warm water, mixed with the fresh smelling herbs, encompass her, Lana relaxed fully and let her worries slip away into the water. Moments later she felt something akin to what must have been a sponge on her back as Verse started cleaning off the blood that was around the scab. Opening her eyes and expecting the bath to have a reddish tinge, she was amazed the water was still as clear as before. Perhaps there was more magic in the pool than just warm water.

"This may sound strange, but where am I," confessed Lana as Verse delicately scrubbed the back wounds.

"Currently you are in my bath house," jokingly stated the older woman before seriously answering, "Our house is a few miles south of Kajar, not too far off the beaten path." Oddly enough the question didn't seem to startle the gentle woman. Seconds later Lana felt something warm, with a ting of magic, touch her back, "Though you wouldn't know it based on how many visitors we get. Not that we don't mind the lack of company." Had there been a small hint of mischief in her last statement?

"What brings you here anyways? Arth doesn't normally talk to many people much less bring them home with him," asked Verse and Lana felt the warm magic replaced by a heavy scrubbing with the sponge.

"Is Arth the old man with the bushy mustache?" asked Lana.

"Good grief you don't even know his name?" exclaimed Verse in disbelief as she stopped scrubbing and Lana felt the warm magic flow over her back once again, "What trouble brought you to him then?"

"I don't think you'll believe me," sighed Lana, "But I stepped out of a portal-like thingy and he was standing there and said I was late." Thankfully this was Zeal and explanations that involved magic went much smoother here; in Zeal anything was possible.

"No I believe it," stated Verse seriously, "It sounds like something that'd happen to him, he has a way of knowing when things are going to happen before they do."

"So what was I late to, and why was he waiting for me?" asked Lana as the warm magic Verse was using faded and the older woman turned the mage-hunter around to look at her. In an almost motherly way, the older woman quickly ran her fingers through the short locks of purple hair on Lana's head before answering.

"Who knows", shrugged Verse, "You'll have to ask him yourself later. Until then you're in my care." Lana smiled at the statement if that meant she could spend the rest of the day in here then it was definitely a good thing. Before she could close her eyes and lean back on the warm rocks, maybe eventually passing into a pleasant nap, the Zealian turned her around again like she was an animal on exhibit.

"I might have fixed your back but I'm not done yet," scolded Verse as she steadied the spinning swordswoman and gave her a motherly look of concern, "Dear, when was the last time you pampered yourself?" The blank stare Lana returned made the older woman sighed dramatically.

"First thing's first, we simply _must_ grow out that hair of yours," stated Verse in all seriousness, "I mean, what's the point of having purple hair if you don't show it off a bit." Lana bit down a sigh, and a question about exactly how that was possible, and simply settled in for a good while of being "pampered". Remembering an old holo-vid, she briefly wondered whether there was going to be mud, or cucumbers, involved.

Regardless of the method, the mage-hunter knew there were probably other things she needed be doing. She hadn't forgotten the deaths she'd caused, the mystics she'd been forced to butcher. Her first and foremost goal was finding the answers she needed. It was hard not to simply take off, ignoring the invitation from Verse, and head straight to the palace library. There's a time to fight and a time to lay down your weapons, good advice from the knight Lana mused.

Hopefully aforementioned knight was getting some well deserved relaxation, and healing, as well.

---//

Arth was a man of many talents; an Ice master, Chronologist, weapon-smith, enchanter, and up-to-date on his Zealian literature. He was not, however, a very outgoing, or talkative, host. Most of the time in fact he was either lost in the vast formula of the universe, calculating the future based on his observations of the present, or making astute guesses when all else failed. That left whoever else was in the room to fend for themselves. It wasn't that he was intentionally being rude, it's just that he had better things to do.

That being said, Glenn wasn't exactly having his needs tended to with the efficiency and care of a nurse. It didn't mean he'd been neglected however. Currently suspended in a stunningly bright column of blue light, the frog-knight felt quite comfortable. In fact, once Arth had placed Glenn in the golden basin that was currently below him on the ground, he'd felt a comfortable warmth envelope him when the blue light flickered to life and he'd became weightless. At the time the bald-man grumbled loudly, "Don't move, it'll heal you." After the knight had regained the use of his previously broken arm, the grateful time-traveler didn't doubt it.

From his levitating purchase Glenn was able to view most of the room without the need to twist around. The healing-column, the name he'd attached to the miraculous device, was in the upper corner of the room. Near the door they'd entered, directly across the room from the healing-column, was a small book shelf currently stacked full of thick tomes with more stacked on the floor next to it. At the far wall, to the left of the door, if entering, and facing Glenn, was a large board with a mess of numbers, letters, symbols, and…other oddities written all across it in a seemingly unorganized mess. The only other object in the room was a simple chair that sat in the middle of the room facing the board. Above it all stood another domed roof with yet more glass panes that allowed plenty of sunlight inside.

The mage was currently walking back and forth in front of his large board. Muttering softly, or perhaps to someone with more acute ears, the bald-man would occasionally stop, mark something on the board, take a minute staring at what he'd just written, and then continue his pacing again. This had been going on since Glenn had been placed in the healing-column and he sensed that it probably wasn't going to end any time soon. The end results, he had a lot of time to think.

His thoughts mostly turned to Lana though. Who was she really? How had she created the magical gateway to bring them here? Why did his thoughts turn to her so often in the past day? Was she in a similar healing-column? Was she thinking about him? Too many questions and the frog-knight had none of the answers.

Despite knowing almost nothing of the above, she had still saved his life on more than one occasion. She did it without cowering or commenting on his frog form, it didn't even seem to matter to the swordswoman. The frog transformation had left Glenn with a shattered personnel image, though he had never really had a strong one to begin with; he didn't blame other people who looked at him in disgust, nor did he hate those who spoke ill of him when they thought he wasn't listening. He deserved it for his failure, but that didn't mean he liked it, and the comments and glances had only spurred his eventual move to the cursed woods. With her though it seemed she never even noticed, there were no scared glances or hidden grimaces when he wasn't looking.

A small ding sounded moments later that snapped the frog-knights thoughts back to the present as the light of the healing-column faded. As the blue light dissipated the cursed warrior slowly descended to touch the ground with his own feet again. Expecting at least some small amount of pain to be associated with his landing, the frog-knight was surprised when his feet solidly hit the ground without weakness. Flexing his arms a few times and performing a few basic stretches revealed his health was back to perfect. He even felt cleaner, as if any dirt or blood that had been on him had simply disintegrated into nothingness. His ragged shirt was still full of holes and his breeches were still torn and battered; they were, however, now spotless.

"Just as calculated," smugly noted the old man as he pulled out the pocket-watch like device to check the various hands. Satisfied, he tucked it back into his white work shirt and turned towards Glenn, "Feel better?"

"If mine eyes and body had not been witness, I'd believe mine fast recovery to be false," stated the frog-knight in amazement, "I doth appear whole and hearty. You have my gratitude sir." Thought not a knight in his own eyes, a code of chivalry had still been drilled into him while under Cryus' tutelage and his automatic response was a formal bow. Arth simply grunted, in annoyance or acknowledgement, and motioned for the frog-knight to follow him as he jerked his head in the direction of the door, "Let's go."

"I doth wonder what the large board in the room for?" asked Glenn as the two exited the smaller room and entered in a hallway. Three doors sat on each side, each an intricately carved pattern of various shapes that made a memorizing eye-catching pattern. The knight and mage passed the first set of doors before the old man answered.

"Calculating of course," he responded as if it should be as plain as day, "Gotta keep track of the variables, the important ones anyway. I'm close to a formula that will predict when the Ice will melt on the surface." The frog-knight nodded on as if he perfectly well knew what the old man was talking about; in truth he had little understanding of his explanation. If this was the Zeal that Lana had been talking about, then it supposedly floated above the earth. Did that mean the earth was covered in ice?

"People won't care of course," rumbled the mage as he opened the last door on the right, "Too worried about palace politics."

Inside the room was all manner of weapons, armor, and shields. Some Glenn could recognize, the tall-tale long sword or claymore, others were of distinctly odder designs. Without pause Arth walked into the middle of the room, grabbed a plain looking broad sword, and slung it over his back like a practiced veteran. Taking a moment to scan the room, his eyes found their target and he walked over to the various armors currently worn by a company of mannequins. Stripping one of its' heavy looking breastplate he lifted it easily with his remaining hand and carried both armor and weapon to the frog-knight that waited at the door.

"Here", stated the mage, dropping the sword and armor on Glenn. The frog-knight frantically held his arms out to catch the failing equipment and managed the feat without injury, "Put it on."

"Come again?" asked the amphibious swordsman, wondering why this odd man was giving him weapons and armor. The old man sighed and grabbed the equipment from Glenn, holding a piece in each hand before speaking.

"Simple math," begin the old man, "This is variable X," he continued and held up the sword, "This is Y," this time he held up the armor, "And you are Z," he ended and dropped the equipment on Glenn again, who this time let it land on the ground. "You are part of a formula, just like everything else in the universe, I'm only adding in variables of my choosing."

"Whilst my skill with numbers is far less sharp than my blade, I fail to see what yon sword and armor do with arithmetic," stated Glenn with a blank look on his face.

"Innumerate," scoffed the mage with a small amount of disgust before rubbing his chin in thought, "There's one thing missing." Almost after uttering the statement the old man snapped his fingers and reached into a small sack he had tied at his waist. From it he drew out a long, dark blue, robe that seem to steal the light from around it and a pair of heavy boots. Dropping them onto the pile of things already on the floor, he reached in once more and brought out a plain white shirt with brown pants. Despite the fact that the clothes were far large than the bag, the bag still appeared plump and full as if something else has hidden inside. Adding the clothes to the growing pile on the floor he turned to face Glenn and said, "Get dressed, dinner's almost ready."

---------//

Actually, dinner was ready before the confused knight had equipped his clothing and cloak. As he came into the dining room Lana was already poking her food item with a fork, though that's all she seemed to be doing. Seeing Glenn enter the room brightened her mood immediately and she waved him over to sit in the empty seat to her left. The two other chairs across the ornate table were occupied by the Zealian woman he'd seen early, Verse if he remembered, and the old man who still hadn't shared his name. Walking to the seat Lana had indicated, and noticing it sat slightly higher than the others, he jumped up to join his fellow time-traveler.

"Don't eat the lump'da", whispered Lana almost immediately, leaning in close next to his ear as if she was sharing some great secret. Indicating the offending item with a poke of her fork, the lump'da decided to move elsewhere on the plate to escape another fork-poke. The food they were eating was still alive! Stifling a comment of disgust he simply ignored it, or tried to.

Turning to come face to face with his twice-savoir, he noticed that she was not only clean of the vast amounts of blood she'd been wearing around but she was also wearing a dark blue robe similar to his own. Not only that he noted, as he had to do a double-take to be sure his eyes weren't playing tricks, her purple hair was now long enough to be pinned up in a pony tail and still reach the nape of her neck. Overall, he decided before turning to look at his food plate, she just seemed fresher, like how a day seemed after a nice spring rain.

"Well it seems everyone is here," said Verse before the frog-knight could even contemplate eating the odd food items, "Now's a good time for introductions. I'm Verse, the owner of the bath house here, and this is my rather extroverted associate Arth."

Arth, however, was lost in thought with a book in one hand and a quill in the other while he mumbled something too soft for any of them to hear. Giving the mage a good slap upside the head, Arth almost dropped his book in his Gemish soup and gave Verse a magus-esque glare, "What now woman?!"

"Stop trying to solve the universe and join the conversation, we've guests after all", severely said Verse while managing to convey a threat across even her sweet voice.

"Fine, fine," mumbled the mage and he sharply closed his book and put it roughly down next to the plate before staring at the two time-travelers, "Well, you got any questions?"

"Arth…" groaned the beautiful Zealin, "Why don't we finish the introductions first." The Chronologist slowly turned his gaze to Verse and mumbled something else that Lana was glad she couldn't hear. Quickly stepping in before Verse had another reason to slap the old man, "I'm Lana and this is my friend Glenn, we sort of came here through …a …time portal."

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time Zeal would have seen a time traveler," spoke up Verse after she stopped glaring at the old man and put on her smile again, "We have a few frequent time-travelers as well. Perhaps you've heard of Norstein Bekkler? Odd little fellow that frequents parties throughout time?"

"Old fool if you ask me," grunted Arth as he quickly picked up his Lump'da and tore off its' head with one quick bite. Glenn and Lana both grimaced and looked down at their still-crawling food, the Lump'da started back with two beady eyes. "Don't mind his manners," sighed Verse, "He certainly doesn't seem to." The bathhouse owner stopped her Lump'da with a fork and neatly cut it into several sections, both time travelers tried not to notice the small legs still twitching as she politely ate.

"So, any questions?" asked Arth while he reached into a bowl of the crawling green creatures and pulled out another to tear into.

"Why were you waiting for me?" asked Lana, "And how did you know I'd be there."

"Simple math and observation," replied Arth, "You think a time portal doesn't have any effects on the environment?"

"I really didn't think about it like that…" stammered Lana, wondering slightly if the old man was going to tell her time-portals polluted the air.

"Course you didn't," snapped Arth, "The universe is a giant formula, everything is a variable; you, me, the floor, the Lump'da, and especially time portals. Before it appears certain variables exhibit certain behaviors, the air-flow it displaces can point you right to it."

"I still doth wonder what people and places have to do with arithmetic," said Glenn, "Tiss it not the study of numbers and mathematics?"

"Innumerate," mumbled the old man yet again. Instead of explaining it further he simply reopened his book and took his quill back in hand, which earned him another smack from Verse.

"Look at it this way," she said kindly, "If you think of each piece of clothing on you as an individual variable, then the entire outfit would be the end result or the solution. That's the easiest way for me to understand it anyway."

"I think I get it", answered Lana as she tried to grip the idea that everything in the universe was adding up to a solution, "But why were you waiting for us?"

"I…was bored," responded Arth hesitantly, "I saw that there was a time portal destined to open soon and decided to add more variables of my own design to the equation of the universe."

"So, enough about the math," chirped Verse happily as Arth gave the woman another glare, "What brings you to the magical center of the universe?"

"Just visiting to use the palace library," stated Lana, "I've had some strange things happen to me recently and I'd heard this was the best place to get information on magic."

"You've come to the right floating continent," happily stated the woman, "Do you need any help getting there, I'm sure Arth wouldn't mind teleporting you there."

"Like hell I wouldn't woman," snapped Arth again, "There are forces out there more powerful than your compression can imagine and they need to be tracked, studied, and applied to the great formula. Yet you want me to just go about teleporting strangers around!"

"One little teleport won't tax your ever so important calculation," responded Verse in mock, "Weren't you bored only a short time ago?"

"A free teleport here, another helpful errand there," argued Arth back, "With all my time away from the great formula I lose more and more variables. One of these days something is going to come out of nowhere and destroy us and then the Queen will wonder why I didn't see it coming! I suppose I'll simply tell her it was because I was too busy giving random strangers free teleports."

"It's okay really," quickly jumped in Lana before Verse had a chance to respond, "We could use the walk anyway."

"If you say so," sighed Verse, "Feel free to eat as much as you like before departing, and come back anytime. The services will be on the house."

"What are these strange creatures?" asked Glenn as he bravely picked up his Lump'da and held it in the air.

"Oh, those are just the filler," replied Verse before snapping her fingers, "The main course is fried beast, red of course for this time of season, with Eckmei sauce and a side of fried Lump'da."

---//

"Your turn," stated Arth after dinner was done and he had once again closed his book and placed it on the table. To Lana's delight the fried beast had tasted wonderful and she'd had no problem digging in after the first bite. Even Glenn seemed to agree with her and relished his meal as much, if not more, than the mage-hunter. Both of them had eaten until their stomachs could fill no more and Verse entertained them with idle chatter, giving the best places to be this time of year in Zeal and the local happenings of the continent.

"My turn for what?" asked Lana as she followed the old mage out of the dining room and into the weapon storage area that he'd taken Glenn earlier. She noticed her katana lying amongst the room of weapons and immediately started towards it, intent on reclaiming her lost sword. However she was stopped short by the solid grip of the mage as he dragged her back, "Don't insult me by wanting that inferior blade."

"Inferior?!" said Lana in surprise, "The blade is the sharpest in the world, forged from a mixture of steel and titanium with laser precision and more than thousand foldings."

"Blah, blah, blah," continued Arth, "There's much more to a blade than how sharp it is or what it is made out of. I was going to choose a weapon for you but since you think your sword is of the best caliber I present to you a challenge; walk through here once, take any blade you desire or, if you want to insult my hospitality, take your sword back." He let go of the mage-hunter and pulled out a notebook and started jotting, as if her choice of sword was something noteworthy. Deciding to take the old man up on his offer, Lana walked through the various rows of weapons and armor though she kept mostly to the sharp instruments section.

"Lana…" rasped a soft voice in her mind as she passed a rack of bastard swords. Thinking it was just her imagination playing tricks on her she continued walking.

"Lana…" rasped the soft voice again with slightly more force and she stopped dead in her tracks, scanning the room for the source of the voice. Nothing seemed odd; all the swords were hung orderly in their respective racks and were clearly separated by form and function. Looking down at the rack of bastard swords she'd stopped by, Lana noticed that one of the bastard swords wasn't a bastard sword at all but rather a katana. Thinking it odd that the rest of the room would be so sorted and orderly yet there'd be one unsorted item right in front of her, the mage-hunter took it off the rack and examined the blade.

The handle was a dark green, almost jade in appearance, with the carving of a dragon circling the entire length of it. The picture extended down the blades as an intricate embossed image in the surface of the steel. At the tip of the blade the dragon end in a mouth full of teeth and a deadly promise to those that might face the sword. It also had a cool feeling to it, sending an almost supernatural prickling down her spine when she picked it up, and it made the blade seem all the more eerily dangerous.

"Einlanzer…" solidly stated the soft voice, the rasp gone, sending further shivers down Lana's back. Had the blade just talked to her? Gripping it in her normal two-hand hold, she judged the balance and weight of the blade to discover it seemed perfect. Not close to perfect as her previously sword had been but actually and truthfully perfect, it felt natural to wield the weapon. The sword was an extension of her body. Almost immediately Arth was next to her, looking down over her shoulders as she examined the sword, "Very interesting."

"Eek!" exclaimed the startled mage-hunter, almost dropping the blade, "Don't sneak up on me like that." Taking the blade and finding an appropriate sheath sitting just next to the stand, she tucked her new found weapon in the thick cord that wrapped around the robe. Testing the strength of the flimsy looking cord proved that it should hold the sword's place in everyday activity.

"What's so interesting?" asked Lana as she continued to test the cord.

"It seems the Einlanzer found you," stated Arth as he closed his notepad up and tucked in one of the various pockets on his overalls, "Just as the great formula said."

"Can the sword talk or something? When I picked it up I heard someone say Einlanzer," asked the mage-hunter, looking down at her newfound weapon in slight confusion, "It isn't a dream-sword is it? Like Melchoir's?"

"Bah, Melchoir's an old fool too," spat the old-mage as he turned to guide Lana out of the weapon's cache but continued to grumble, "Only reason he's a guru and I'm not are those dreams of his anyway."

"All this 'dreams' and 'hope' hoopla," stated Arth as he shut, and locked with a few gestures, the weapon's cache door, while continuing to blabber, "It's a good way to disappoint oneself. No, that blade is made of logic. Nothing quite beats the cold edge of reason sometimes, cuts to the truth of things."

"Okay…" agreed Lana, not quite sure what exactly it meant to build a blade from logic, "But does it talk?"

"No idea," grunted the old-man as they re-entered the dining area, "Never used it. Logic would dictate however that if you heard it talk, then it can and does."

"Great, a talking sword," sighed Lana almost regretting her choice of blade. If it didn't feel so right to use then she would have taken it back. It was rare to find a sword of such caliber though, after all it seemed she had to go back sixty-five thousand millennia to get it, and it wasn't hard to see why it might be handy to hang on to. Besides, a sword that could cut to the truth of things might be helpful when looking for answers.

"And now, it's time for you to go," stated Arth as he grabbed Glenn on his way by the amphibian, who was just finishing off some desert. Making one last grab for his pasty-type snack, the frog-knight sighed in defeat and let Arth carry him by the nape of his neck to the threshold of the domed-complex.

"You always did have a way with guests," commented Verse as she rose as well and followed the trio, "If you ever need a place to rest while you're staying in Zeal, feel free to come back."

"Maybe once I've found the answers I'm looking for I'll take you up on that," stated the mage-hunter as they all assembled at the large door-frame that was open to the brisk Zeal day. The cool, late day air against her face made Lana glad they'd been given robes, and also made the Zeal fashion seem suddenly prudent.

"I can hardly contain myself," grumbled the old-mage, "Now get going. You've got places to be and times to be there."

"Might we perchance cross paths again?" asked Glenn as he brushed himself off after being informally plopped on the ground, "It doth appear you can divine future events, prior warning of such meetings wouldst be greatly appreciated."

"If the great formula calculates as much, then it will happen," solemnly spoke Arth with real reverence in his voice, "But variables change all the time, short term variables like humans are hard to track."

"It'll happen if it happens," interpreted Verse with a laugh and looked pointedly at Lana, "Maybe next time you can let me put a dress on you, that blue robe just hides all of your assets" The mage-hunter turned a slight shade of pink but swiftly turned around and hid the fact by drawing up the hood on the robe.

"I'll…pass on that… thanks," stated the mage-hunter, "Thanks for the clothes and the sword." Glenn hadn't missed the sudden retreat and after the two walked a reasonable distance away from the old-man and kind woman, he chanced a question.

"Thoust can tackle snake-beasts, defeat a mystic platoon, and hold your life for bargain to an invisible force but harbor a private fear of dresses?" jokingly asked the frog-knight as he tossed Lana an odd look, "Mayhaps an attempt on your life by a tea gown."

"I just…don't like dresses," shakily admitted the mage hunter, sinking her head even farther back into the blue hood, "Look, don't you have more important things to think about than my reluctance to wear a dress. We are on a floating kingdom after all, doesn't that strike you at least as a little out-of-the-ordinary."

"Mayhaps any more out-of-the-ordinary than making converse with a walking frog?" asked Glenn straight-faced.

"Touché", responded Lana with a laugh, "Touché."


	14. Chapter 14

WELCOME!!

Sorry it's been a tad late in updating but Part 2 is up and running. This, I think, is probably one of my better chapters. I couldn't have done it without my great proof-reader Kasienda. If you think the grammar is a bit better, or the read overall just seems to flow more, then you can probably thank her for that. Anyways, I'd like to thank all those that have reviewed this so far! Things start getting a bit darker, a bit more mysterious, and a bit more urgent in this chapter. But why tell you when you can read it for yourselves! I hope you enjoy it!

Trouble in Paradise

Part 2: Questions and Answers

"_Tell me Gaspar, O' guru of time, the progress of the new power source for this ailing kingdom," desperately asked the Queen of Zeal upon the guru's entrance onto the palace foyer. Her sapphire blue eyes filled with worry and the red lines stood testament to the sleepless nights she had endured after hearing the news. Five days had passed since the king initiated the ceremony and only four remained before it would be complete. He wondered if she'd slept at all in the last week. The desperate look in her eyes was a marked contrast to the kind and confident ruler he knew her to be. It almost made Gaspar want to assure her that all things would work out in time, that all would be as it always had._

_"It progresses your majesty," the tall guru simply answered as his two counterparts, Belthasar and Melchior, appeared from behind him and spread out to his sides. "Perhaps the question should fall to Melchior as he is a better judge of minerals and metals." The queens pleading eyes turned from Gaspar to Melchior._

_"Well fielded," responded Melchior with a nod to Gaspar as he turned to address the queen, "The power source, that we are calling Lavos, is indeed immense. From the details you revealed during your initial discovery, your guess as to the amount of energy it can hold is most likely correct. So far our survey shows that it is at least as powerful as the sun stone. Because our studies have been limited to a short period of time the power of this new energy source could even be a great deal more than that of the sunstone. There is definitely enough power to suit our purpose."_

_"Is it possible to posses this power before the sun stone is to be refilled," asked the Queen her eyes brightening with hope."_

_"Not safely, no", responded the Melchior, "So far no minerals: jewel, gem, crystal, or stone has the capacity to hold the required energy to power the city for a single hour. To wield this much energy without another vessel such as the sun stone would require a direct feed to the source of power and a device to regulate the daily energy allotment for daily needs."_

"_This is Zeal wise guru," said the Queen suddenly with fury in her voice, "Are you telling me such a device is beyond the power of this magical kingdom?"_

_"Not at all your majesty," suddenly stepped in Belthasar. Melchior and the Queen, while civil at most times, were not exactly friends. The queen probably thought the Guru was obscuring the facts, but even Melchior loved the king. Better to intervene before fighting broke out. _

_"But it requires time we don't have," admitted the guru of reason, "Give us another moon, two at the most, and we can accomplish this task and free the Zeal line from the curse of the Sun Stone."_

_"That is sadly more than I can give," responded the queen woefully, "Surely there must be something the Gurus of Zeal can do! My hope, my husband's hope, lies in your hands! Please, I beseech you!"_

_"We'll continue our research," stated Gaspar, "We endeavor to accomplish this quickly. Please, be patient my Queen."_

"_Very well, go now with haste then!" exclaimed the queen suddenly, somewhat angrily, as she dismissed the trio. The three Gurus bowed as one and filed out single file. Before they were completely gone, the Queen called out once more._

_"Belthasar, may I speak with you privately about another matter?" the Queen asked before the last of the gurus could leave. Motioning that the others should continue without him, he stayed behind as the nervous Queen twirled the fabric of her dress in one hand and played with a pair of meditation stones with the other._

_"You love your King, do you not?" finally asked Queen Zeal._

_"As my very brother your majesty!" exclaimed Belthasar, "That is why we will__-__"_

_"But you won't in time", plainly stated the queen with real sadness in her eyes, "I must know if there is any other way to refill the Sun Stone. Any other way at all! You're knowledge of the stone is only surpassed by my husband's and he tells me this is the only way. Does he speak the truth?"_

_"As you know, my queen," stated Belthasar as he sat in an offered seat, the queen taking one as well. "The Sun Stone requires an enormous amount of energy to refill, something the Zeal bloodline possesses, a magical ability that far exceeds anything the power of any other Enlightened ones. If you could, however, find another such compatible energy source that is similar, or suitably high to serve as a temporary solution, then it would be possible I suppose."_

_"Lavos however does not have a compatible energy type to refuel the Sun Stone or it would be a simple matter indeed! The source would have to come from another with elemental energy. The only two things that possess the power of the elements are the elements themselves and the Enlightened Ones. Without the power of the Enlightened Ones though, the elements themselves are spread too thin to provide a suitable source of energy in a short period of time. Thus the only suitable source at this time is an Enlightened One with significant magical prowess, comparable with the king's. Not even you possess that your majesty."_

_"But if you could find such a person, would it work?" asked the queen desperately._

_"Yes, it would be possible. However," stated the guru as he rose from his seat, "finding a person with the required amount of energy, and willing to go through with the ceremony, is as likely as finding another Sun Stone."_

_"I understand," stated the queen sadly, "I wish to think in private for awhile. Please use whatever resources you need. You have my approval for anything that falls under the command of Zeal."_

_"Thank you your majesty, we will do our best," bowed Belthasar before turning stiffly and walking away. Meanwhile, looking down at the green and blue scenery of Zeal, a plan was forming in the queen's head._

-----------------------

While dark forebodings played games in the Queen's mind, no such thoughts were encompassed in the minds of Lana and Glenn. It was a sunny day, the air fresh and crisp, both were of sound health and clean, and no one was trying to kill either of them. So far, it was a fine day indeed!

"Is yon city our final destination?" asked Glenn as the city of Kajar shone out of the Zeal horizon like a white marble beacon. During their walk Glenn avoided asking why, or how, they were here. Instead he made idle observations, initiated conversations when silence lingered for more than a few minutes, and appeared generally content with the entire scenario. Lana found that more than a bit odd but decided not to press the issue. The first question about where they were going made the mage-hunter realize that Glenn was concerned, just very good at keeping a cool façade.

"Nope," responded Lana, "We are, however, headed towards the palace library on that mountain." The swordswoman pointed to the obscenely high mountain with a white palace atop and Glenn nodded in understanding.

"Then thou seeks shelter?" asked Glenn again as he eyed the slowly setting sun. The glowing rays stretched out to touch the clouds and found them just out of reach. Darkness would arrive long before they reached the palace grounds.

"Not a bad idea," nodded Lana, "The city is called Kajar by the way." The mage-hunter volunteered the information freely hoping that it would ease the knight's curiosity. Though she'd just meant to just say the name, she continued to talk as if a floodgate had been opened. "That's where most of the magical research for Zeal is conducted. Well, not the city itself, but the laboratories that sit right next to it. It's a pretty big city actually, largest population density anyways. They really do great magic there, this one time I remember seeing……"

"Remember seeing?" Glenn prompted after Lana had mysteriously lapsed into silence. Her voice had been full of such wonder and excitement when she'd started. Now the swordsfrog detected her mood plummeting quickly.

"It's nothing," muttered Lana, picking up the pace of their walk. Neither said much of anything to one another; Glenn waiting for Lana to calm down, and Lana trying hard to tell the difference between what were, and weren't, her memories.

The two reached the outskirts of the metropolis just before the sun touched the clouds seeming to set them afire, its' golden fringes flickering orange patterns across small pieces of the horizon. Lana's mood seemed improved and Glenn was glad that whatever previously clouded her mood was gone.

Robed figures crowded the walkway that wound between the sometimes tall, and sometimes squat, marble buildings that were the mainstay of Zeal architecture. Some bustled here, some pushed forward there, and some appeared to have grown tired of the crowded streets as they sailed overhead. Vendors hawked wares with loud voices and colored signs that floated in the air with moving pictures demonstrating their products. Other vendors had shops that floated in the air, rope ladders giving access to those that couldn't fly.

With all the strangeness it was not surprising that none paid the frog-knight any attention, nor did they try and avoid his presence; he was just another body in the crowd to them. Despite the lack of any reaction, Glenn stuck close to the mage-hunter. This had been the first time he'd been around so many people since he'd left Guardia all those years ago. The crowd, while seemingly not hostile, presented too many targets to take on at once if his presence did elicit a violent reaction. Too many times had one outburst turned a seemingly docile crowd against him. He felt vulnerable, very vulnerable.

"Mayhaps thou knowest of an inn for the night?" asked Glenn as they walked down the busy street.

"Why would I know…," started Lana as she looked back to Glenn then stopped short and starred straight ahead again. "Never mind… There should be one up ahead, just follow me." The brief improvement of her mood was washed away and it seemed that whatever he'd said had upset her again. So he silently followed as they pushed past colorful shops, bright banners, loud vendors, and countless Enlightened Ones. At last they broke from the main road and entered into a small alley.

It was lit with plentiful magical lamps that were hung at regular intervals. A good thing too since the tall buildings blocked out most of the natural light that made its' way down to the alley floor. Glenn compared it to a forest, seeing as he'd spent a great deal of time in one these past years; there were some that lived at the top of the "canopy" and some that lived at the bottom on the forest floor. His description was more apt than he realized, doors and entrances were placed in buildings where there was no visible ladder or stairs up to reach them. The varied and many signs were less grandiose than those on the main street and most simply had glowing text proclaiming their name.

Lana didn't hesitate as they entered, so neither did Glenn despite how much he wanted to stay and stare straight up just to see how high it went. Perhaps another time, he thought to himself, or once her mood has passed. They glided by several others in the alley, most offered the two time-travelers a brief nod, if anything at all, and none seemed to see the two as more than another two Enlightened Ones.

At last they came to an open entrance with a sign that hung over the inviting arches proclaiming this, "The Mage's Retreat". There was a lone robed figure outside that stood erect and tall, though his face was hidden by the dark shadow created by the hood he wore. Normally this would have been a sure sign of someone suspicious, but Lana walked right up to the figure, causing its' head to slowly turn and regard her smaller form.

"The road inside lies open…" started the figure with a deep gravely voice but trailed off. Immediately Lana picked up where the hooded figure had left trailing and finished it with, "To those enlightened enough to stand with the clouds."

"And when that enlightenment become too great of a burden?" asked the figure without moving his body or head further.

"Then you must make your way to the Mage's Retreat," finished Lana with a slightly annoyed look on her face. Glenn simply wondered how long she'd lived in this magical city, and why she'd left in the first place. Questions for another time, he thought to himself, as the lone guardian stepped aside and allowed the two to pass.

"Don't ask," stated Lana after the doors had closed behind them.

"Perish the thought," stated Glenn with a serious look on his face. The mage-hunter caught the look and her hardened features softened as she took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry Glenn, it's not your fault I'm angry," she started, "That was just their advertisement slogan, and they like to think the little jingles are some great secret password. Almost every hotel has one of those things, or something like it anyways."

"Very well m'lady," stated Glenn, "Though I hope 'twas no fault of my own that caused thee a sullen mood."

"No," sighed Lana, "Just bad memories."

"Anything I can perchance assist thee in?," asked Glenn. Lana smiled and turned back around to lead them even deeper into the Mage's Retreat, "Perhaps another time", she said over her shoulder.

Lana took the lead several floors up before pushing out from the column of light that had drawn them higher and higher up. Glenn had tried to ignore the fact that they were flying and instead focused on keeping his head on his shoulder. The almost failed attempt at an exit, and the resulting face-first landing on the floor, didn't help the frog-knight any. Rising and brushing himself off, he found the mage-hunter was already walking further down the hallway. Jogging a short distance he caught up to her and then resumed his relaxed pace, hoping perhaps that she'd not noticed his blunder.

"Have a good landing?" slyly queried the swordswoman as she scanned back and forth from door to door.

"Mine fortunes were good, the floor was there to break mine fall," responded Glenn without missing a beat, "Though I doth think it might have a hidden agenda."

"I see," responded Lana with a sagely head nod, "The floors are revolting after all."

Glenn simply threw her a questioning look in response and stated, "I'm not sure I understood that correctly." The mage-hunter only smiled in return and said, "Don't mind my corny jokes." Talking the sudden attack of bad humor in stride, the swordsfrog pretend to closely examine the nearest wall as they walked.

One did not have to look for beauty in this inn though as the Mage's Rest was as opulent as the rest of the kingdom. Grey metallic doors stood out from the white marble walls of the "Mage's Retreat" but both were equally detailed with exquisite embossed patterns and art. The floor and ceiling were made of the same marble except with a slight rose-colored hue and inlays instead of embossed patterns. The interior of the building was circular in nature and they'd almost walked all the way back to the starting point before Lana stopped suddenly. Approaching the nearest the door mage-hunter gently placed her hand against it. A blue light emanating from a jewel at the top of the door way blinked twice. Glancing back down the hallway to the other doors, Glenn noted no other jewels were alight.

"Room for two, one night only," she stated. The door flashed brightly for just a brief moment before Lana removed her hand. "I do have to hand it to them though, getting a room is a lot easier here," she admitted. Lana placed her hand back on metallic door it slid upwards into the ceiling and allowed the two time travelers entrance. "These doors will open when one of us places our hand on it, but only for us since we are the only two that touched it when we rented the room. So don't worry about losing the key!"

"How do we pay?" asked Glenn, puzzled that no money had exchanged hands in return for the room. The mage-hunter only waved it away and responded, "They'll collect a sum before we leave. I have no idea how I'm going to pay them yet though."

Glenn simply nodded and bowed slightly while motioning to the entrance, "After you m'lady." Lana put on a mock show of amazement and pranced grandly into the room as if she was in fact a queen.

"Why thank you sir knight," she said in a husky voice, "I proclaim this the land of Lana!" Turning back around to Glenn she still saw the serious look on his froggy-face. Walking over and bending down to his height she took a corner of his mouth in each hand and stretched his stoic look into a smile, "Come on, smile Glenn!"

"Knights do not smile," remarked Glenn, "Tis against our code of stoic chivalry." Lana let go his face with a slight frown. "Doth fall under the same clause that instructs us to make dramatic entry poses and stand against setting suns." Lana stood and put on a stoic face as well.

"Very well sir knight," she stated, "I will follow your proud example!" Both held the tight lipped, hard-eyed face seconds longer before breaking into smiles and laughter. Who knew one of history's premier swordsmen would like subtle, and often inane, humor almost as much as the mage-hunter.

"I am gladdened by your brighter mood," commented Glenn as the two walked through the rented room. In the center, which sloped downward on all sides like a shallow bowl, there was a tall fountain of flowing water that produced a soothing sound. Pillows surrounded the fountain and the feathery seats, combined with the babbling sounds of water, would make a comfortable place of relaxation indeed. Several beds of polished wood and intricate carvings lay off to the side on a flat raised portion of the room. Plump looking mattresses were in each bed frame and several exotic potted plants dotted the room, along with more small magical lamps in each corner. In an open archway next to the bedding area Lana discovered the bathing area. Beyond both the fountain and living area was the balcony with a lone lamp-post.

Walking straight for the balcony area, and promptly discarding the overly warm robe, Lana was greeted to the sight of the city of Kajar caught in transition from day to night, commonly known as sunset. She'd half expected to see the field of clouds from here but realized they weren't high enough up, or close enough to the edges of the continent, for that to happen. A pity, Glenn would have liked them. Lingering several minutes on the beautiful view, letting the slight breeze play with her long hair and foreign memories arise new in mind like teasing bits of a bigger puzzle. The mage-hunter finally snapped back to the here and now when Glenn joined her on the balcony.

"Tis indeed a beauteous sight," he commented in awe. Here and there small lights were activating of their own accord as the need for light increased with the main, natural, source of it vanishing. The white marbled buildings turned an orange hue, almost like the clouds did, and the entire city seem to change colors; from bright orange, to a darker red-orange, and then finally a light purple as the sun was completing its setting.

"M'lady," began Glenn, "I doth have a few questions to ask. If thou does not mind that is."

"Go ahead," she responded, "It's probably better I answer them now than later. Though some I won't be able to answer, I hope you can understand that there are things I just can't tell you."

"Indeed," stated the frog-knight, "Very well, I shall respect your wish of privacy. Mine first question doth be; do you hail from his fae kingdom?"

"No," she stated before pausing in uncertainty, "And yes…. It's complicated. The truth is this is the first time I myself have ever been here."

"You seem to know your way around rather well." responded Glenn clearly confused.

"Memories," she stated, "Again, it's complicated. They aren't my memories, but I have them anyway. The person they belonged to had been here before, so I know my way around from his memories. That's the best I can explain it."

"Memories that are not your own you say?" asked swordsman with a questioning glance, "Very well. Mine next question is; what doth be our purpose here, what are we to be searching for?"

"I'm looking for information about a magical curse placed on me," she stated, "It can…take control of my body and make me do things that I don't want to do." A brief cloud of emotions passed over her face at remembering the mystics and the old hermit she'd killed. Glenn noticed the flicker of emotions in her eyes but said nothing.

"Anyways," she continued, "The palace libraries are supposed to contain some books on the subject so that's where we are headed."

"And it doth lie on the peak of the mountain you pointed to?" asked Glenn in response. Lana nodded an affirmative and the frog-knight accepted the information.

"If doth your purpose be of learning from books, is not a laboratory a place were knowledge is discovered and kept?" asked the swordsfrog after thinking about what Lana had said earlier, "Mayhaps this laboratory has something on the subject you seek."

"You're….right!" exclaimed Lana, a light bulb going off in her head, "I can't believe I didn't think of it before!" Reaching down and giving the knight a big hug she quickly ran back inside to grab her robe and threw it over her shoulders again.

"Let's go!" she exclaimed brightly. Glenn shook his head and sat his sheathed sword down next to his bed.

"I doth think I shall retire for the day," stated the swordsman, "Unless, of course, you are in need mine presence and skills." A brief frown passed over Lana's face but quickly evaporated behind a grin as shrugged.

"I don't know if I can defeat the horde of books without your mighty blade present but alas I shall try!" stated Lana, placing the back of her hand on her forehead in a mock posture of despair. "Seriously don't worry," she stated once her act was done, "I'll be fine and you probably still need rest from the past few days anyway. I'll be back before midnight, sleep well Glenn."

"Good hunting," he replied and she quickly touched the door and left. "A magic curse," muttered Glenn to himself, "We doth have more in common than I thought."

----------

Lana breathed in the refreshing night-time air as she strolled down the streets of Kajar. Magical lanterns had replaced the sun-light and allowed those out and about a clear field of view. Even with the coming of night the streets remained crowded, the ceaseless pace of the day extending into the night. As she bumped and pushed her way farther and farther down the walkway, the traffic slowly eased until it was light enough to walk without the fear of randomly bumping into someone. With the main city behind her she was almost to the research labs that made Kajar famous, in this time period and in the history books at the Chronopolis.

Thinking about the time station made the mage-hunter wonder why an Observer hadn't stopped her yet. Surely they must be picking this up on the scopes, especially with the number of people they had monitoring this particular time period. Still, time was kind of large, and maybe they were undermanned as well. It made her slightly uneasy knowing that if she was going undetected, then who else was doing the very same thing? How many time crimes were being committed without an Observer there to stop them? How many time crimes had she already committed? Shaking her head vigorously to clear out these thoughts, she was already here so there was no use in regretting her actions. Instead she decided to concentrate on her goal.

While her original intent had been the palace library, the laboratory and library here might hold something that could not be found on the high mountain. Surely, with all the research done here someone must have studied the Black Wind. Even if it was a brief overview, someone must have taken note of it. That was her hope anyway and, well, she was already in town and might as well try her luck. Any lead, no matter how small, could uncover the mystery.

Approaching the large dome structure, surrounded on all sides by small pods clumped along its' base like extra growths, Lana again thought of the time station. The dome was at least as big as the bio-dome, probably bigger, and she wondered if perhaps Belthasar had modeled it after this once he'd seen it in his travels of time. Though it wasn't as large as the city of Kajar, the fact that most of the laboratory's residents stayed in the dormitories provided made it very city-like.

The mage-hunter scoured out the nearest entryway into the dome and didn't have to look too far to quickly find one. Approaching the entranceway caused the magical doors to part and a draft of cool air quickly escaped the confining dome. Stepping in, the door immediately closed behind the mage-hunter just as a floating face resolved into view. The visage was that of a young man with flaky red hair, old enough not to be considered young but not old enough to be considered old. No body appeared to accompany the floating head and Lana quickly masked her initial response of shock.

"How can I help you tonight ma'am?" asked the face with a pleasant smile. Before answering the mage-hunter quickly scanned it for an aura and discovered it wanting. Instead of the usual details all that appeared was an outline of the floating head, no emotional signatures or patterns. That meant it resembled the holograms on the Chronopolis, just a projection of an image.

"Yes actually, I'm looking for the library," she stated, "It is open isn't it?"

The face smiled again and answered, "Of course, it's always open. You cannot put an open and close time on the gates of knowledge after all. What subject are you looking for? I can probably direct you to the appropriate section."

"Well," said the mage-hunter hesitantly, "You wouldn't happen to have anything on 'The Black Wind' would you?" That was the only name she had to go on, hopefully it would be enough.

"Hmmm," stated the youthful floating head as he made a thoughtful face, "We have some located in the fiction section and one entry in the 'unsolved magical anomalies' section. Will that suffice?"

"Well, it's a good place to start," agreed Lana, surprised that he had found anything at all. From what she understood Janus had been the only one to call it the Black Wind. Well Schala hadn't anyways, though that didn't mean those before her hadn't. How far back did it go was the question.

"Very well," stated the flame-haired head, "I've taken the liberty of collecting the books that bore mention of the subject and they should be appearing next to you about now." Almost as soon as the red-haired face finished, a stack of books materialized next to the swordswoman. The stack was pitifully small, only 3 books, for dealing with a subject that seem to hold so much mystery and power. It disappeared a few moments later and the voice continued.

"I've had them sent to the reading center and they will be there upon your arrival. Anything else today ma'am?" This was perhaps the most polite and helpful Enlightened One she'd ever meet. Actually, thinking on it, everyone she'd met since arriving had been more than kind and courteous. It was odd then that the history books painted them as vain and arrogant individuals. Perhaps the history books were wrong too? Or maybe she'd been overly lucky with those she'd encountered.

"Thanks, I just need to know how to get there," stated Lana. The face smiled again, "Just follow the floating arrow, it will guide you through the complex. I'm the duty librarian so if you need me just say Lucas out loud and I'll be with you as soon as possible. Enjoy your stay at the greatest knowledge suppository in the known universe."

With that the head vanished with as much theatrics as it had appeared, none. In its' place was a glowing arrow that slowly started to move down the right passageway of the corridor. The swordswoman took the hint and followed it. The faster she walked the faster it floated, the same went for slowing down, so she picked a comfortable pace and let her gaze wander to the rooms she passed.

It guided her down the corridor for some time before taking a right turn that opened up into a large room. At first Lana thought it empty, but upon walking in a bit further she saw what produced the need for such a large and open space. An exact replica of the galaxy was held suspended in mid air. Not suspended, she thought to herself after noticing the miniscule movements the planets made along their correct course, just moving very slowly. Robed figures also floated and spoke in gruff voices, talking and arguing about some inane detail probably, as the galaxy went about its' business around them. In accompaniment others pointed, some nodded sagely, and a few furiously wrote in open notebooks.

The arrow led her out of the room from a door on a wall opposite the one she had entered and the spectacle disappeared from view. This new room contained all manner of beakers and vials that were filled with chemicals and who knew what else. Here too robed figures talked, argued, and played with the various chemicals. They seemed to pay her little attention, almost as if she wasn't there, and then that room too was left behind. They passed through several more rooms, all with experiments and equipment beyond her understanding, before reaching a large area filled with tables and chairs.

Unlike the previous rooms, no one talked or argued here but simply read. The robed figures here read silently with those that did not stay in the self-contained laboratory-city. Whatever their occupations they were all equally welcome at the laboratory, so the saying went, and they were all equally silent too. In fact, her footsteps sounded painfully loud in the awkwardly quiet room and she quickly softened her footfalls. At last the arrow guided her to a table that did indeed have the promised stack of books sitting purposefully atop the polished wood surface. The floating arrow faded away once she touched the table and soon Lana was left alone amongst the sea of Enlightened Ones.

Taking a look around at all the faces etched with concentration, the mage-hunter sat down and spread the three books out before her. The first was approximately a half inch thick with a thin leather cover and the etched words, 'The Legends of Zeal'. Second was a three inch thick volume with an equally thick cover with gold inlaid words proclaiming this was, 'Unsolved Magical Anomalies: Volume 21'. Last was a small, very thin, paperback with faded words and printed letters that said, 'The Zeal Bloodline: A collection of researcher's observations and conjectures'.

It was either start with might-be-true stories and then read something based on fact, or factual information followed by might-be-true stories. Neither way seemed better than the other so, closing her eyes, Lana randomly grabbed one of the books and began reading.

-------------------------------

Once Lana left on her sudden decision to visit the laboratory, Glenn was alone in the rented Zealian room. She had not left him on purpose; the frog-knight had feigned the need for rest and she had left him under the pretense that he would be asleep. He was not tired though; he just wanted to give himself, and Lana, some time to think. With him around she would try to hide whatever it was that bothered her, he would do the same with the feelings he was struggling to comprehend now. Both needed time to be alone, or at least separate from the other.

Glenn made his way to the balcony of their fine room, overlooking the city of Kajar as it finished the transition from day to night. Staring out over the tiny twinkling lights of the city, and seeing hundreds more reflected from the starry sky above, he decided to do the one thing he did too much of; sit down and think. Cyrus had always said that was why Glenn would make a good knight; he took the time to think a situation through. It was also the reason Cyrus had said he'd make a bad knight; he often thought too much for his own good. A double-edged sword his friend had called it. Words more true than his dead friend had realized at the time; the frog-knight knew the bite of his own weapon all too well.

"Cyrus," whispered Glenn, "I am truly sorry old friend."

There were times when the frog-knight swore he felt as if his friend were listening. It sounded crazy whenever he thought about it, Cyrus listening to him talk. The man was dead after all, stricken down before his very eyes even, but the swordsfrog would talk anyway. Perhaps just so that he had someone to talk to; even if that someone was dead and could not really listen. It didn't matter much to Glenn.

"If thee could only see this kingdom," continued the frog-knight, "Tis indeed a land of fae magic and wondrous sights. Mayhaps I can findeth a cure to release this curse and take vengeance on the fiend Magus." Every time they talked he would say something like this, something to assure his friend that Magus would get what he deserved and the land would be well once again. He'd been doing it ever since he'd talked aloud to his dead friend, but the words always lacked conviction.

The normal promise of vengeance seemed especially hollow today though, perhaps dwarfed by the enormity of the past days' events, so Glenn quickly moved to other subjects. "I hath met a lass," he commented with a smile, "Nay, not that kind of lass Cyrus. Twice now she hath saved mine life, mayhaps even mine wits. Her blade is as quick as any of the land, sharper than mine own old friend." Thinking back the past day, he was unsure if he would have been able to take down the mystic ambush. Certainly he'd been unable to defeat the lone creature that Magus had sent after him. Lana had handled both.

"But she does not know the way of war," said Glenn almost sadly, "Tis still innocence behind her eyes. I fear for her." He could picture her now, soaked in blood in the clearing and crying that it had not been her. The killing had disturbed her greatly, had stolen away some of the innocent light she still held dearly. But it was that light, her light, which made him smile, "Her presence doth ease my burden somewhat, I find life easier to think on when I think of her. Tis a feeling I'd not known before." Silence responded as it always did, but Glenn continued on regardless.

"I doth fear she is in danger though," he said with a frown, "And I cannot see the enemy. This place doth be so far above anything, I feel akin to driftwood in the great sea compared to the magics that doth work here." The frog-knight sighed and continued, "I asketh thee to aid my failing courage so I am able to protect her." Silence again, there was always silence, but he felt just a tad better about everything. There was no doubt in his mind that Lana would be in danger, and he would be there to save her without question; just as she'd done for him.

----------

Thankfully they had invented the index and glossary systems because an in-depth search through all three books for mention of the Black Wind would have taken days. Instead it had been only three hours but already she'd extracted the small amount of information from all three books. What little there was anyway, even scanning the rest of the book for any mention of the subject proved fruitless. The mage-hunter had learned three things though, one from each book ironically enough, and she'd written them down on the piece of parchment she'd requested from Lucas. He'd appeared as promised and a second later she'd had her materials.

Fact 1: Entry from 'Legends of Zeal'

_And the first king did look out over the people of Zeal and said to them, "The Black Wind says we must rise to the clouds and so it shall be done! It speaks to me of light, of hope, of a brighter future! To do this it has given unto me a stone from the sun, a stone of incredible power, to accomplish this task. Let these be the last days that our people walk upon the earth!" And so Zeal and the Enlightened ones did leave behind the earth's surface for the promise of the sky._

Whether this legend was true or not, the mage-hunter had no idea. If it was then it seemed the first person to have had the ability was the first King of Zeal himself. The next entry expounded on an idea that Lana was already tossing around in her head after reading the first book.

Fact 2: Entry from 'Unsolved Magical Anomalies: Volume 21':

_Listed under Anomalous abilities present in select individuals:_

_Temporis loquor: This ability seems to be passed down in the Zeal family bloodline. Exact effects are unknown but may include: precognition, temporary periods of enhanced elemental powers, unusual blackouts, enhanced magical perception, and periodic delirium. Those questioned about the ability claim to know things in advance and can feel a presence speak to them. Several have claimed it is the voice of a higher being, though the King has denied such rumors. Ongoing study has been banned under the command of King Zeal. _

_Also known as: Black Wind, Zeal Madness_

Lana already had an idea that it might be passed down the Zeal bloodline. What that meant about her, she wasn't so sure. There was always the chance that she was a long, long, long lost descendant of the royal family. And what about Fnorm, she defiantly wasn't related the royal family. Or perhaps the book was wrong, maybe there had been more occurrences of it but none reported. And why had the King banned further research into it? In any case the third fact seemed to add one more interesting question to ask.

Fact: Entry from 'The Zeal Bloodline: A collection of researcher's observations and conjectures'

_Date: 10__th__ Generation of the Zeal Family_

_The Zeal Bloodline seems to have several abilities that those of normal Enlightened blood do not. First is the enhanced ability to manipulate elemental energies and magics. This does not extend just above the ordinary but the difference between a Zealian's magic and an average Enlightened One is of such scope that it would be ridiculous to even compare them. This enhanced ability only extends to those born of Zeal blood of course; those married into the family do not have any enhanced magics. The offspring of the two will and it is unknown if the mixing of the blood degrades this ability or not._

_The Second ability is that of what the scientific texts call 'Temporis loquor'. Though I've frequently heard it called The Black Wind from my time spent with the royal family. They would not indulge my curiosity about it however, instead politely smiling and suggesting that perhaps I find another field of study. Intrigued I instead prodded with renewed interest but learned nothing of much worth. However it does seem to go hand in hand with the enhanced magic's, none married into the family claim this strange ability. Therefore, I surmise that either the Black Wind is the cause of the heightened elemental magics, or that it is the result of such a mighty magical power._

_:Authors inserts: Upon conclusion of my studies the King issued a ban on all further investigation into the material. This is a travesty to the world of science and knowledge and I hope that our appeal meets with success. _

So it did seem others before Janus had called it The Black Wind. Why hadn't Schala? Whatever the case three things seemed clear; The Black Wind was what prompted the start of Zeal, it is passed down the Zeal family line, and it only appeared in those with great magical ability. Lana had neither any great magical ability, any at all outside of reading auras anyway, nor, as far as she knew, was she a descendant of the line of Zeal. Either the books were all wrong, or didn't contain all the information. There was one thing that bugged her as well, the ban on the research by the King.

Looking at the date of the last entry, the tenth generation of the Zeal family, she quickly scanned her head for the correct date correlation. If there was one thing a would-be-Observer had to be good at, converting a civilization's date into the standard date ranked chief among them. "Let's see," whispered Lana softly as she scribbled a quick formula down, "It'd be somewhere around six thousand B.C. That's one old book. And six-thousand years before Lavos destroys Zeal too. Not exactly up-to-date information. So no one, outside of perhaps the royal family, has been allowed to research The Black Wind for six thousand years. No wonder there's no general knowledge on it."

Despite the old info, Lana had a chance to discount at least one of the so-called facts. It was time to enlist Lucas' help again, but somewhere else this time. Last time she'd called his name aloud in this room it seemed as if her voice had echoed on forever and had also gained the attention of the ears' of the all the Enlightened Ones. So, in order to avoid any further embarrassment, she found the nearest exit into another room and once inside spoke his name aloud again. "Yes ma'am?" asked Lucas' floating head once it appeared.

"I was wondering whether you can scan for magic from where you are," stated Lana with a skeptical look on her face, "And if you can, can you also tell our powerful that magic is?"

"A remote scan is not possible from my current location but if you want I can direct you to me and perform the scan in person," stated Lucas, not sensing anything at all wrong with the question. "Is there a particular item that you are interested in scanning?"

"No item, just myself," stated Lana as casually as possible. This did seem to surprise the floating head and he quickly hid the raised eyebrow and puzzled expression behind his usual smile before responding. "Very well, follow the arrow again and I will see you momentarily."

"Thanks," responded the mage-hunter as he disappeared again. Once more it was time to follow the floating arrow.

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It was pure luck that Glenn had heard the faint scrapings from his improvised bed outside on the balcony. He had always been a light sleeper, you had to be when any moment an enemy might attack, and so the faint sound stood out from the background noise and caused Glenn's eyes to immediately open. Before him he still saw the city of Kajar and noted nothing out of the ordinary. Straining his ears to hear whatever it was that had awoken him Glenn almost let his guard slip before hearing the faint sound again. Metal scraping metal it sounded like, and coming from near the door of their room.

Creeping slowly inwards, avoiding going down into the pillow pit and keeping to the bed platform, he grabbed his sword and made his way to stand just to the right of the door. The frog-knight supposed it could have just been Lana coming back from the lab. But she wouldn't need to scrape at the door; he remembered she said that it would open to their touch and only their touch. That meant someone was trying to get in that did not belong. Now that he was closer to the door, to the source of the sound, he could more clearly hear the scraping noise. It wasn't periodic like he had thought before, but rather a continuous scrape as if someone was carving into the door with a metal stick. Then it stopped.

He felt the door to their room rise slowly upwards into the ceiling and heard soft foot steps. Preferring to question the intruder than outright kill him, the frog-knight quietly drew his sword and held it so as it strike with the flat of the blade. Seconds ticked by as he waited for the intruder to show itself. Each second seemed like an eternity as he waited for the fight, adrenaline already pumping into his system. Deciding to take the initiative himself he stepped into the open door frame and let lose a swing. The flat of the broadsword met empty air and the swordsfrog blinked several times in confusion.

"Impello Flamma!" yelled a voice behind the bemused frog an instant before something heavy struck him across the back. A rough force threw him forward. Instantly he turned around, seeking the source of the attack. A figure phased into view, his stealth magic apparently spent. The short form seemed to be made of a rolling dark mist and a pair cold and calculating blue eyes shined like the jewels above their room's door. Glenn thought perhaps the man a ghost, his form constantly flowing and shifting, and the temporary confusion allowed another attack to slip in.

"Impero maneo!" the voice intoned and Glenn felt a magic grip tighten about him. It quickly melted away. Determined not to get caught again Glenn jumped forward. His sword was out and held above him. The frog-knight pressed his advantage and delivered a vicious attack diagonally across his opponent's body. His blade passed right through his enemy causing no damage to the figure. He caught a glimpse of another shadowy figure descending onto the balcony, this one taller and thinner, but with the same cold eyes and misty form.

Using the momentum of the downward swing to his advantage Glenn went with the swing and rolled away from the short attacker into the pit of pillows by the fountain before the second figure could attack. A bolt of lighting struck the spot he had been just seconds before. They were attacking him with magic! Oh where was the Masamune when he needed it? He came up from the roll just in time to see a ball of fire headed his way. He instinctively cringed and held a flap of the cloak out before him like his trusty buckler. Bright light flashed and he was shoved backwards but when he opened his eyes he found himself undamaged. Though all the pillows were naught but ash and the fountain was cracked and leaking water; Glenn remained alive and unhurt.

The short man froze in astonishment. The frog knight did not question his good luck. He leapt on the man in an instant, chopping and swinging the broadsword with all his might. Still nothing appeared to injure the man's misty form. A lightning bolt from the taller figure struck him in the side. Again, instead of dying from such terrible magics he was simply pushed away. In mere moments he found his feet again. Using the frog legs to his advantage he jumped this time at the tall man near the balcony entrance. Intending to plunge the blade deep into his chest, his attack and body instead passed through the figure. Just managing to soften his collision against the balcony rails with a swiftly raised arm, Glenn turned around with annoyance in his eyes. He couldn't defeat what he couldn't damage; this was a frustrating foe indeed!

Glenn dodged another lighting bolt from the thin attacker while the short one ran in his direction. In transit the short one slipped in the leaking water of the fountain and landed face first in the pillow's ashes, sending it billowing upwards and buying him a much needed distraction. "So they can be touched, but why can't I touch them?" wondered the swordsfrog. Whatever the case it was time to take the fight elsewhere, the enclosed space did little for him and only helped his attackers.

Glenn jumped over a hastily thrown bolt but caught a fireball on full on, the force pushing him hard against the rails he was pinned back against. Glenn glanced above to see how far the next balcony was and pushed off with his powerful frog legs. It was slightly too high so he instantly his flicked out his tongue towards the lamp-post on the target balcony. It hurt, pulling yourself up with your tongue, but Glenn bore the pain and landed on the next level of the building. Wasting no time he glanced back over the edge to see the two figures jump up as well, easily clearing the height, probably through the use of magic, and landed perfectly on the balcony.

He squatted down, making himself shorter than the guard rail that surrounded the edge. The two figures landed square in the middle of the platform and Glenn reached out and grabbed the legs of the short man. His hands found the legs instead of mist. Quickly taking hold, Glenn yanked the short one off of his feet. His misty body fell forward with a heavy thud and Glenn put him in a choke hold. Bringing the short man's form between himself and the thin attacker, Glenn was able to buy himself a breather. Clearly unwilling to fire with his friend's body directly in the way of his target, the tall one backed up slightly. That left his short friend to struggle, kick and bite. But the frog-knight was made of sterner stuff. He had felt much worse that a few bites and punches and held the choke hold. Soon the short man fell limp in Glenn's arms.

"Mayhaps you wouldst answer mine question," said the swordsfrog at last, "Least I doth decide his body would look better over the side of yon balcony rather than on."

"You will die for this," stated the dark, clouded, voice from the tall man. Glenn brought his broadsword forward with the free hand and rested it against the short man's neck.

"It doth seem I can cause injury if mine actions are slow enough," stated the frog-knight with a deadly steel in his voice, "Mayhaps I can test this theory on this man's neck." The thin man seemed to stiffen.

"Ask," he stated simply.

"Why didst you and yon compatriot attack me in my room?" asked Glenn.

"We were not looking for you particularly, only following a strong magic signature that appeared here hours ago," stated the cloudy figure, "That is all I will tell you. If you need further answers to your questions then kill me and take them from my cold corpse."

"Lana," thought Glenn to himself. It had to be her! He certainly didn't have any fae or magical abilities besides that of his odd form. Before he could respond to the tall figure, it stiffened again and suddenly looked northward as if something had caught his attention. Turning its' attention back to Glenn it spoke again, "Do with him what you will, but we will find you again little frog. Then not even that cloak will be able to save you."

It jumped off of the balcony before Glenn had a chance to drop the short man's body, much less form any sort of attack. With the other attacker gone the frog-knight's breathing became a bit easier and he decided to see if the short one might have any clues. Taking a quick moment to search the man he could feel nothing inside of the misty form that encompassed his body. He could however clearly see, and examine, the hands, feet, and head. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary still, except that the man only wore one glove.

Examining it, the glove appeared normal on the palm area, albeit made of a strange fabric that resembled his cloak. On the back side of the hand however were moving shapes, arrows and circles. The arrow seemed to point towards the direction the thin man had looked before leaving. Taking the glove off, the figures and arrows quickly vanished. Deciding the risk of the unknown magical item was worth knowing where he needed to go Glenn quickly pulled it on. Before his eyes the glove shrank to fit his slightly smaller hand.

Then his vision swam with numbers, letters, glyphs, and pictures before clearing up a moment later and displaying a few words in the top corner of his vision, "Strong Elemental Energy Detected." Just under the words was a small compass-looking picture that had one hand, labeled with an N, pointing to north and another pointing in that direction again. 'Was it pointing to Lana?' Glenn thought to himself. Was it really her that they were looking for? If it wasn't then should he still follow? No, he would go. If it was the mage-hunter they were looking for, and he simply sat here and did nothing, he would never forgive himself. Springing from balcony to balcony on his way to down to the street below, the swordsfrog hoped his arrival wouldn't be too late.

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"Lucas?" asked Lana as she knocked on the open door the floating arrow had led her to. She could see inside the small room from her location and it seemed to contain only a desk in the back and piles upon piles of papers that sat on it. Various odd devices and charts lined the edges of the room, tacked to the wall or on stands, and it looked rather like a science fair gone wrong. Still, she hadn't seen any sign of Lucas.

"Right here," called out the young man's voice, exactly as it had over the hologram, and his hand stuck up from behind the piles of papers that formed a wall on his desk. He got up, standing only a little taller than Lana, and approached the mage-hunter. "Ahh there you are, I would apologize for the mess but I'd have to be remorseful for it first," he smiled again, "Anyway, are you ready for the scan ma'am?"

"I'm ready," she stated with a nod, "is there anything I need to do for this to work?" Another smile, that put it up to about twenty now, and Lucas responded, "No, just stand still and give me a moment."

"Aperio facultas," Lucas said aloud and quickly appeared bewildered. He took a moment to take a deep breath and repeated, "Aperio Facultas!" This time he said it louder and with more emphasis. Again he appeared as if something was happening that shouldn't be. "Ma'am, you don't happen to be wearing any magic muting items do you?"

"I don't think so…," replied Lana, unsure if what Arth had given her was magically enchanted or not, "How can you tell?"

"You're not from around here are you?" questioned Lucas with a sigh, "Either that or the guys thought it would make a great joke and put you up to this." Neither gained a good reaction from the mage-hunter and so Lucas smiled again. "Give me a moment ma'am and I'll see if I can find it."

"Aperio magus," this time he took a few moments standing and starring before responding, "Ma'am would you please take off your cloak. It appears to be blocking magic sent at you and at the same time hiding your own magical signature."

The mage-hunter removed the cloak, laying it on a chair that sat off to the side. "Ok, ready."

"Aperio faculta," said Lucas' one more time, this time his eyes opened rather large as he continued to stare. Decidedly too long for Lana's comfort and she waved her hand in front of his face, "Hello, anyone there?"

"S…sor…sorry ma'am," stuttered Lucas' before resuming his normal expression, "I can't actually obtain how high your level is, not with my spell anyway. Perhaps you should try one of the higher mages that work here, they can read higher magical attributes than I can."

"Wait, so you're saying I can cast spells," blurted our Lana before even realizing how funny that sounded in Zeal. Lucas either didn't recognize it being out of place or was still slightly stunned, whatever the case he answered.

"Having energy and being able to cast spells are two different things," he stated as he rummaged through a stack of papers he'd suddenly gained interest in, "What area do you specialize in if I may ask?"

"I… I've…I've only been able to read auras," admitted Lana, "I can't even light a match with magic to save my life." Lucas still rummaged without saying anything and then responded a few moments later.

"Interesting," he stated with actual interest, "You can't actually cast spells but you've so much elemental energy built up inside that you've developed enhanced elemental and astral senses!" He turned around with a smile again, though not the phony smiles he'd worn before but an honest-to-goodness ear-to-ear grin. The scientist in him was happy. "It's been theorized that could happen, but never before seen!"

"Ummm, can you dumb it down a bit," stated Lana with an embarrassed look, "I never did do to well in my magic theory classes after all."

"Well," started Lucas, "To put it simply your abundance of elemental energy gives you certain senses that normal people don't have. Since you've got so much energy, it means that it is easier for you to see energy in others. Think of the world on two planes, the material and the energy. Since you've so much energy you have a foot in both worlds and thus can see things as they appear in both states. Most things material have an energy component attached to them on the energy plane, but not true the other way around. There are many things that exist in the energy plane that do not have a material attachment. Belthasar discovered the Dreams, something similar to what I'm talking about."

Now he was taking fast, and in the magic-jargon again, while gesturing wildly. "Even those that cannot cast spells and must use items instead, indeed even the earthbound ones, have a type on non-elemental energy. It's never large enough to use for spells but it does seem to be unique and different for each being. I have theorized that is the aura reading you spoke of, picking up on the non-elemental energy! It all makes sense!"

"There's never been anyone with this much power that can't cast spells," he exclaimed again, "So we never really had a chance to test the theory. But, if it holds, it means that the more elemental energy you have then the closer you are to the energy plane. Eventually, with enough energy, you could even become an energy being yourself!"

Now Lucas was madly scribing his notes down. This was perhaps a bad thing, Lana was here not to influence history just to find a few answers. If they made an earth-shattering discovery because of her, well then who knows how much would be influenced. It was time to leave, before Lucas got more worked up and before he tried to take readings or call other scientists in.

"I'd say you're energy levels probably rival that of the royal family," he exclaimed while looking at a chart that she had to assume had something about energy readings on it.

"That's exactly why she's coming with us," said a dark, cloudy, voice from the entrance to the room, "Take the girl, kill the librarian."


End file.
